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Leading Victorian trainer Darren Weir has placed his faith in Leica Day to add to his record in Tasmanian feature races in Wednesday’s $100,000 Devonport Cup at Spreyton.

Weir also nominated Taiyoo for the Devonport Cup (1880m) but did not declare him as a final acceptor due to concerns about his big weight of 63.5kg.

Leica Day, who has won eight of his 22 starts including the Hamilton Cup and a metropolitan race in Adelaide, is the only Victorian-trained acceptor for Wednesday’s feature.

He is coming off a last start third under 60kg in the Woodford Cup at Warrnambool on December 27 and will now carry the equal topweight of 58.5kg with Tshahitsi, the Launceston Newmarket winner who is untried over the Cup distance.

Leica Day will be Weir’s first Devonport Cup starter, a surprise as the record-breaking trainer has been a regular visitor to Tasmania for 10 years and has won the Hobart Cup four times.

Top Victorian jockey Brad Rawiller will ride Leica Day while Damien Thornton, successfully splitting his riding between South Australia and Tasmania in recent times, has the mount on Tshahitsi.

Last year’s Devonport Cup winner Geegees Goldengirl (Sigrid Carr) and Tasmanian Derby winner Jerilderie Letter (Anthony Darmanin) are among the local stayers hoping to advance their claims for next month’s Hobart and Launceston Cups.

Other contenders include last start Sheffield Cup winner Geegees Baritone (Daniel Ganderton), promising four-year-old Siorca (Troy Baker), former Sydney stayer Kanji (Mehmet Ulucinar), Treasury Bond (Raquel Clark), Gee Gees Top Notch (Craig Newitt) and Demons Run (David Pires)

Kanji, now trained in Tasmania by Kaye Milne, is looking for his first local win after a close second in last week’s Longford Cup.

• DARREN Weir has named the Hobart Cup as a likely goal for his German import Plein Ciel after he kept his unbeaten Australian record intact with another impressive win over 1800m at Caulfield on Saturday.

Plein Ciel has now won all four starts for Weir with the trainer suggesting he would benefit from a trip to Tasmania for the $225,000 Hobart Cup (2200m) on February 5.