The power of Darren Weir and Chris Waller steal the show during Spring Carnival

THE horses played their role but it was the subtle mastery of those who train and ride them that defined this six-week stretch of racing.

Emirates Stakes Day Race 4 no 10 Palentino ridden by Michelle Payne wins Trainer Darren Weir Picture:Wayne Ludbey. EmiratesStakes15

IT was a day, a week — an entire carnival — for the horsemen. And women.

The horses played their role but it was the subtle mastery of those who train and ride them that defined this six-week stretch of racing, highlighted as the curtain was drawn at Flemington.

Even hungover and punch drunk, Darren Weir emerged on Saturday not just to party on but to reinforce.

The sun still comes up the day after the Melbourne Cup, and the days after that. A new group of owners, wide-eyed and hopeful, demands bang for their considerable buck.

Weir had two Melbourne Cup horses three weeks ago but only Prince Of Penzance made the cut — and won.

But Dandino had long been the stable trump, albeit patched up and 10-years-old. The Dandino story had been re-routed but remained important. Ask his jubilant owners.

Dandino won a $300,000 consolation, the Queen’s Cup, and the celebrations — some familiar faces from Tuesday, some new ones as well — continued.

A race later it was Weir again, with a now familiar and famous ally — Michelle Payne.

Different horse in lightly-raced Palentino and different cast of wide-eyed hopefuls, including “Boom Rat Racing’’ and “Bool Dervy Boys”, but another winner on racing’s grand stage.

Michelle Payne combined again with Darren Weir to win on Palentino. Picture: Getty Images

Two races later the suits and silks would surely play second fiddle to the horse, Chautauqua, but we’ve learned in recent times that the force of Chris Waller is simply more forceful than a single horse, even a champion.

Waller proved too powerful on Derby Day, when Japonisme flogged boom colt Exosphere, and he proved too powerful again yesterday when Delectation charged home and nosed out odds-on Chautauqua in the Darley Classic.

Waller smiled sheepishly when it was suggested he should wear a villain’s mask, quipping self-consciously in the mounting yard “that it seems a bit quiet eh?’’

He smiled again, this time cheekily, with a half-wink, saying: “Chautauqua still ran very well. It was a good second.’’

Waller is a dominant trainer but he still upsets apple carts. He said after the Darley that he only hung around in Melbourne with Delectation because he would have felt “deflated’’ to take the sprinter home to Sydney after a luckless run last Saturday.

The deflated punters who made the post-race Darley scene positively morose would have preferred Waller had been satisfied with last week’s fourth and hit the highway.

The Chris Waller-trained Delectation caused a boilover in the Darley Classic to defeat odds-on favourite Chautauqua. Picture: Jay Town

It seems a contradiction of physics that a horse could hang off the edge of a field in a race run in a straight line but Chautauqua raced closest to the middle in a race where most ran close to the outside rail.

He seemed somehow stranded, while Delectation was always smothered.

James McDonald played his role, weaving like a Bangkok tuktuk driver, and Dunn offered no excuse, other than that the track may have been softer than Chautauqua preferred.

Then, Murray Baker.

The legendary New Zealand trainer says little, achieves lots.

He won the Caulfield Cup with Mongolian Khan and yesterday made it a carnival threepeat with the understated but powerful Turn Me Loose, whose courageous Emirates Stakes win came after wins in the Seymour Cup and Crystal Mile at the Valley.

Baker said Turn Me Loose was “a good, tough horse who can run the sectionals that makes it hard for horses behind him.’’

But good horses need good trainers and good jockeys. Rarely has there been a carnival where the horses played such a secondary role to the suits and silks.

Originally published as The power of Darren Weir and Chris Waller steal the show during Spring Carnival