RacingHorse
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It’s safe to say Ciaron Maher has always been something of a speed demon. The second-youngest of four boys growing up on a dairy farm outside Warrnambool, Maher got his early thrills riding motorbikes, and later tested his mettle as a jockey both on the flat and over jumps. Today, the 35-year-old satisfies his need for speed by training Group 1-winning Thoroughbreds and–as far as his racetrack results in 2016 show–he is certainly living life in the fast lane.
Maher’s Group 1 tallies in 2016 began with Azkadellia (NZ) (Shinko King {Ire})’s score in the G1 Coolmore Legacy S. at The Championships in April. Five months later, Bon Aurum (Aus) (Bon Hoffa {Aus}) scooped the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke S. in his backyard at Caulfield. The 4-year-old filly Jameka (Aus) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) put the cherry on top of a dream season when plundering the A$3-million G1 Caulfield Cup in October–Maher’s first win in a Melbourne “big three” event.
Maher’s success at the upper echelons of flat racing has been a rising tide since 2007 when, less than three years into his training career, the gelding Tears I Cry (Aus) (Lacryma Cristi {Ire}) provided him with his first Group 1 win in Flemington’s Emirates S. It would be a few years before Maher would again taste success at the highest level, but in the ensuing years his stable began to slowly populate with better-quality runners, and as a result Set Square (Aus) put his name in lights when winning the G1 Crown Oaks in 2014. Srikandi (Aus) (Dubawi {Ire}) handed her trainer a Group 1 double when taking the Stradbroke H. and Tattersall’s Club Tiara the following autumn, and Jameka made it back-to-back Oaks wins for Maher last spring.
“I’ve been fortunate; it’s important when you’re growing a stable to keep your name up there and have success regularly,” said Maher. “The doors that Tears I Cry opened up for me as a very young trainer, to win one of the big four at Flemington, was a huge result, and now since then we’ve had horses like Srikandi, who was a dual Group 1 winner, and Azkadellia. Set Square just came along as a whirlwind kind of horse to win the Oaks, and Bon Aurum–I hadn’t trained a colt to win a Group 1 so I was very keen to do that and Bon Aurum, being a 4-year-old entire, ticked that off the list.”
Today, Maher trains a string of about 240. He is based at Caulfield Racecourse and also has facilities at Pakenham and Warrnambool. Naturally, business hasn’t always been this booming for Maher; like everyone else he had to work his way up from the bottom.
It was somewhat of a twist of fate that saw Maher develop an interest in racing in the first place. His parents ruled him off motorbike racing at age 10 after one his brothers had been involved in a serious accident–which he ultimately emerged from unscathed–and thus he was forced to find another outlet for his high horsepower tendencies. A chance meeting of his father with a racehorse trainer saw the young Maher soon learning how to ride racehorses, and, unsurprisingly, he said it was the competitive nature of race-riding that got him hooked on the sport and prompted his desire to become a jockey.
“I was always quite tall, so I ended up leaving my lunch money at home and not eating,” Maher quipped. “It just went from there. I ended up getting my license as a jockey and rode on the flat for about six months. I was too heavy and was wasting too hard so I ended up going over the jumps; they ride about 10 kilos heavier.”
While Maher enjoyed success as a jockey, he said he always had an eye on a future as a trainer and used his riding tenures to pick up as much knowledge as possible.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be a jockey forever, and I was always very naturally interested in training, so I used being a jockey to work for all the best trainers I could, like Bart Cummings, the Hayeses and Robert Smerdon,” he explained. “And then I traveled and rode in England and Ireland and also worked in Dubai. I came home and tried to mold all the information into training.”
Maher set up his yard in his hometown of Warrnambool in 2005, and his first order naturally was to fill his stable with horses. Easier said than done for a rookie trainer. Ultimately, he fell back on his foundation as a jumps jockey and uncovered some stars in that realm to get himself established.
“When you kick off as a trainer no one’s going to give you their high-priced yearlings straight off because you don’t have any kind of CV in terms of training,” Maher noted. “I could buy some lower-grade type of stayers, and I was confident having ridden over jumps that I could educate them, and I have a real passion for the stayers also. It was an affordable way I could start training, was jumping horses, so that’s why I started with them.”
Maher’s first career win as a trainer was with the hurdler Spectacular Storm at Terang, and also coming early on was Al Garhood (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), the winner of back-to-back runnings of the Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool. Maher purchased Al Garhood’s dam, Alstomeria (GB) (Petoski {GB}) privately off the back of those victories in foal to Pure Theatre (Aus). That resulting foal, Regina Coeli (Aus), would emulate her elder half-brother with a win in the Grand Annual. Also chalking up early recognition for Maher was Bashboy, the winner of three Grand National Steeplechases and earner of more than A$1-million.
While Maher’s rapidly increasing success on the flat has ensured that his stables are filling quicker than ever before, the trainer remains a steadfast presence at the major Australasian sales. Maher noted that sourcing yearlings from successful breeders is important to him.
“I bought Jameka, for instance, off of [Black Caviar’s breeder] Rick Jamieson,” he explained of the A$130,000 yearling purchase. “He has a very good record as a breeder. They may not always be the flavour of the month stallions that he uses, but he has a little niche–I think he describes it as nicks–that work in terms of breeding. He’s just very good at it.”
Of Jameka, he added, “When I bought her, I was just in love with her as a physical. The way she moved, I thought she was exquisite.”
While Jameka undoubtedly possesses above-average ability, Maher can be credited with masterminding a busy campaign that has played perfectly to the filly’s strengths. It is the latest coup in the career of the man described by many as a horse whisperer. Maher somewhat downplayed that accolade, simply citing the importance of keeping each horse sound both physically and mentally.
“I think the most important thing is treating each horse as an individual,” he said. “There are so many ways you can train a horse, but I think the main thing is, whether it’s whispering or whatever you call it, the mind is every bit as important as the physical side of it for the horses; developing that will to win and harnessing it.”
As Maher’s stable has grown, he has kept it a priority to maintain his facilities in Warrnambool, where his horses can enjoy the benefits of the beach, and Pakenham, where the racehorses can enjoy a refreshing change of pace by being put through dressage tests.
“The stable has grown pretty rapidly over a short period of time,” the trainer said. “I’ve really tried to keep the versatility of the stable. We train an 80-horse barn in Caulfield, and I originally started training in Warrnambool on the beach, so we have a stable there and also we have a stable at Pakenham where I spend quite a lot of time doing dressage and really working on the agility and flexibility of the horses. That’s something different also and something I personally think is a big thing for them. It holds them in good stead during the pressures of racing when they carry themselves the right way and move the right way. It puts a lot less strain on their bodies.”
Maher said his watershed year has led to somewhat of a facelift for his business, and he is relishing every opportunity to stay ahead of the game. He will explore another opportunity for growth next summer when he plans to visit Saratoga for the first time for the racing and sales, to “have a look around and maybe learn something.”
“I’ve had to change the structure of the business over the last six months to accommodate the growth,” Maher explained. “We’ve increased staff and we’re placing a lot of emphasis on communication. We do video reports now and we’re getting some good feedback from that. We want to be on the leading, cutting edge of the training business. We’re always changing and looking for better and easier ways of doing that.”
Still at the heart of it all for Maher, however, are his horses.
“You’re learning all the time, the business has grown a lot and I’ve taken on a lot of good staff and surrounded myself with a lot of business-minded people so I can just concentrate on the horses and what I’m best at doing,” he said.
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Maher’s Group 1 tallies in 2016 began with Azkadellia (NZ) (Shinko King {Ire})’s score in the G1 Coolmore Legacy S. at The Championships in April. Five months later, Bon Aurum (Aus) (Bon Hoffa {Aus}) scooped the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke S. in his backyard at Caulfield. The 4-year-old filly Jameka (Aus) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) put the cherry on top of a dream season when plundering the A$3-million G1 Caulfield Cup in October–Maher’s first win in a Melbourne “big three” event.
Maher’s success at the upper echelons of flat racing has been a rising tide since 2007 when, less than three years into his training career, the gelding Tears I Cry (Aus) (Lacryma Cristi {Ire}) provided him with his first Group 1 win in Flemington’s Emirates S. It would be a few years before Maher would again taste success at the highest level, but in the ensuing years his stable began to slowly populate with better-quality runners, and as a result Set Square (Aus) put his name in lights when winning the G1 Crown Oaks in 2014. Srikandi (Aus) (Dubawi {Ire}) handed her trainer a Group 1 double when taking the Stradbroke H. and Tattersall’s Club Tiara the following autumn, and Jameka made it back-to-back Oaks wins for Maher last spring.
“I’ve been fortunate; it’s important when you’re growing a stable to keep your name up there and have success regularly,” said Maher. “The doors that Tears I Cry opened up for me as a very young trainer, to win one of the big four at Flemington, was a huge result, and now since then we’ve had horses like Srikandi, who was a dual Group 1 winner, and Azkadellia. Set Square just came along as a whirlwind kind of horse to win the Oaks, and Bon Aurum–I hadn’t trained a colt to win a Group 1 so I was very keen to do that and Bon Aurum, being a 4-year-old entire, ticked that off the list.”
Today, Maher trains a string of about 240. He is based at Caulfield Racecourse and also has facilities at Pakenham and Warrnambool. Naturally, business hasn’t always been this booming for Maher; like everyone else he had to work his way up from the bottom.
It was somewhat of a twist of fate that saw Maher develop an interest in racing in the first place. His parents ruled him off motorbike racing at age 10 after one his brothers had been involved in a serious accident–which he ultimately emerged from unscathed–and thus he was forced to find another outlet for his high horsepower tendencies. A chance meeting of his father with a racehorse trainer saw the young Maher soon learning how to ride racehorses, and, unsurprisingly, he said it was the competitive nature of race-riding that got him hooked on the sport and prompted his desire to become a jockey.
“I was always quite tall, so I ended up leaving my lunch money at home and not eating,” Maher quipped. “It just went from there. I ended up getting my license as a jockey and rode on the flat for about six months. I was too heavy and was wasting too hard so I ended up going over the jumps; they ride about 10 kilos heavier.”
While Maher enjoyed success as a jockey, he said he always had an eye on a future as a trainer and used his riding tenures to pick up as much knowledge as possible.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be a jockey forever, and I was always very naturally interested in training, so I used being a jockey to work for all the best trainers I could, like Bart Cummings, the Hayeses and Robert Smerdon,” he explained. “And then I traveled and rode in England and Ireland and also worked in Dubai. I came home and tried to mold all the information into training.”
Maher set up his yard in his hometown of Warrnambool in 2005, and his first order naturally was to fill his stable with horses. Easier said than done for a rookie trainer. Ultimately, he fell back on his foundation as a jumps jockey and uncovered some stars in that realm to get himself established.
“When you kick off as a trainer no one’s going to give you their high-priced yearlings straight off because you don’t have any kind of CV in terms of training,” Maher noted. “I could buy some lower-grade type of stayers, and I was confident having ridden over jumps that I could educate them, and I have a real passion for the stayers also. It was an affordable way I could start training, was jumping horses, so that’s why I started with them.”
Maher’s first career win as a trainer was with the hurdler Spectacular Storm at Terang, and also coming early on was Al Garhood (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), the winner of back-to-back runnings of the Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool. Maher purchased Al Garhood’s dam, Alstomeria (GB) (Petoski {GB}) privately off the back of those victories in foal to Pure Theatre (Aus). That resulting foal, Regina Coeli (Aus), would emulate her elder half-brother with a win in the Grand Annual. Also chalking up early recognition for Maher was Bashboy, the winner of three Grand National Steeplechases and earner of more than A$1-million.
While Maher’s rapidly increasing success on the flat has ensured that his stables are filling quicker than ever before, the trainer remains a steadfast presence at the major Australasian sales. Maher noted that sourcing yearlings from successful breeders is important to him.
“I bought Jameka, for instance, off of [Black Caviar’s breeder] Rick Jamieson,” he explained of the A$130,000 yearling purchase. “He has a very good record as a breeder. They may not always be the flavour of the month stallions that he uses, but he has a little niche–I think he describes it as nicks–that work in terms of breeding. He’s just very good at it.”
Of Jameka, he added, “When I bought her, I was just in love with her as a physical. The way she moved, I thought she was exquisite.”
While Jameka undoubtedly possesses above-average ability, Maher can be credited with masterminding a busy campaign that has played perfectly to the filly’s strengths. It is the latest coup in the career of the man described by many as a horse whisperer. Maher somewhat downplayed that accolade, simply citing the importance of keeping each horse sound both physically and mentally.
“I think the most important thing is treating each horse as an individual,” he said. “There are so many ways you can train a horse, but I think the main thing is, whether it’s whispering or whatever you call it, the mind is every bit as important as the physical side of it for the horses; developing that will to win and harnessing it.”
As Maher’s stable has grown, he has kept it a priority to maintain his facilities in Warrnambool, where his horses can enjoy the benefits of the beach, and Pakenham, where the racehorses can enjoy a refreshing change of pace by being put through dressage tests.
“The stable has grown pretty rapidly over a short period of time,” the trainer said. “I’ve really tried to keep the versatility of the stable. We train an 80-horse barn in Caulfield, and I originally started training in Warrnambool on the beach, so we have a stable there and also we have a stable at Pakenham where I spend quite a lot of time doing dressage and really working on the agility and flexibility of the horses. That’s something different also and something I personally think is a big thing for them. It holds them in good stead during the pressures of racing when they carry themselves the right way and move the right way. It puts a lot less strain on their bodies.”
Maher said his watershed year has led to somewhat of a facelift for his business, and he is relishing every opportunity to stay ahead of the game. He will explore another opportunity for growth next summer when he plans to visit Saratoga for the first time for the racing and sales, to “have a look around and maybe learn something.”
“I’ve had to change the structure of the business over the last six months to accommodate the growth,” Maher explained. “We’ve increased staff and we’re placing a lot of emphasis on communication. We do video reports now and we’re getting some good feedback from that. We want to be on the leading, cutting edge of the training business. We’re always changing and looking for better and easier ways of doing that.”
Still at the heart of it all for Maher, however, are his horses.
“You’re learning all the time, the business has grown a lot and I’ve taken on a lot of good staff and surrounded myself with a lot of business-minded people so I can just concentrate on the horses and what I’m best at doing,” he said.
Continue reading...