A year to remember

It has been quite a year for David Eustace. In August 2018 he was announced as the new Co-Head Trainer at Ciaron Maher Racing. Over the ensuing 12 months that fast-rising training operation with its roots in Victoria expanded first to a new stable in Sydney, before enhancing the variety of bases on offer by buying Darren Weir’s Ballarat property at the start of the former champion trainer’s four-year ban from the sport.

Eustace recently returned to Australia after something of a brief working holiday back home in the UK to visit the Tattersalls July Sale and catch up with a number of the stable’s overseas owners. Reflecting on a whirlwind first year in his role, he said, “What happened in February/March time was a challenge for everyone really. It was a challenge for the owners who had horses with Darren and a lot of them have supported us. It was a big challenge for us, and all credit to Ciaron for taking on Ballarat and taking on the staff.

"He was very forthright in doing that and was very keen to get the place. It added a fantastic facility to train from, along with staff that we inherited, and those are the two most important things really. You can't train the horses without having the right facilities and staff, so that is going to be a great benefit for years to come. And we are of course very grateful to the owners who came with us.”

Among those that did was the 10-strong syndicate behind Kenedna (Not A Single Doubt), who blessed the new training partnership with its first Group 1 success when taking out the Coolmore Legacy S. at Randwick in April.

From strength to strength

“Thankfully we've trained for [Kenedna’s owners] Mick Johnson, Terry Ginnane and that group in the past so we had a relationship with them. We inherited her and she went to another level really,” says Eustace of the 5-year-old mare. Kenedna subsequently added the G1 Doomben Cup and G2 P.J. O’Shea S. to her tally of stakes wins for the season, all in the hands of Irishman Johnny Allen, who had previously struck up a fruitful partnership with the Weir stable.

“Johnny knows her so well and we inherited her in a great condition and had 10 weeks with her before she went and won in Sydney,” Eustace adds. “It was a race where everything probably fell her way a bit but they still need to go and win. She loves getting in a tussle and so does Johnny, so she got there on the line and it was a big thrill and a real relief.”

He continues, “Probably it just took a little bit of pressure off, you know, having taken on the horses, the staff, the facility – it all looks great from the outside but you have to get it all working in the right direction and it took a lot of hard work and some time to do that. At that time we probably felt that things were just starting to click into place.

"It's a challenge taking on new horses, but then taking on a place that you've never trained from as well is not easy, but I think it's a reflection of the staff really pulling together with us. It felt like the start of something anyway. Kenedna held her form and was then very dominant in Queensland.”

A base for every horse

From dual-state city bases at Rosehill and Caulfield, to a beach facility at Pakenham and a more country environment at the improved Ballarat, Eustace believes that Ciaron Maher Racing is now fully equipped to cater for any type of horse which walks through their stable doors. The equine team in training now stands at around 250, with roughly 400 in total on the books.

“Ciaron has never worked for a trainer as large as that and neither have I, particularly in multiple locations, and that has been the most challenging thing, but you build the trust in the team working with you and that trust grows as the horses run well and the communication is good,” says the trainer, who grew up in his father James’s Newmarket stable before working as pupil assistant to Roger Varian and then completing his first year in Australia with Peter Moody.

“I think Ballarat has completed the set for us. The city environment is great for the young horses. The beach is great but you can't educate a horse at the beach that effectively, so it's fantastic for the older horses to recover from gallops, races and trials. And the great asset of Ballarat is that the horses are living out all the time, rain or shine.

"If the weather is desperate then we have the option of them staying in their boxes, but even if it's cold the horses are better off being out and rugged up. The air is cleaner, they eat better and they're more relaxed. If you have any issue with the horse eating, or perhaps they tie up, or they might be a bit stiff and sore, if they are living out and moving literally 24 hours of the day, we have found far less muscular issues with horses being at Ballarat. Horses very rarely scope dirty and the fillies don't tie up because they are on the move. So there are an awful lot of advantages to horses being trained there but, again, you can pick your mark. If a horse thrives at Caulfield they can stay there, and a lot of them do, and similarly down at the beach.”

Eustace splits his time between Caulfield and Ballarat, while Maher commutes between Melbourne and Sydney. At Rosehill, the operation is overseen by assistant trainer Annabel Neasham, while Maher’s brother Declan is at Ballarat.

“We try to spread our time as best we can and we seem to be in the right sort of rhythm at the moment,” says Eustace. “There’s been a lot of support for the Sydney stable. Aquis are running a lot of the colts through there which is great.

"There's probably even more emphasis on 2-year-olds and precocious horses, particularly the colts, in that area with the Breeders' Plate and the Gimcrack early on in the season. That will be very much the plan with those horses, hoping that one or two stick their hand up. They've been running very consistently from there and Annabel knows the system extremely well, she's a great horsewoman and has done a fantastic job in getting that going.”

Search for another star

Among the youngsters, the search is on for another Dubious (Not A Single Doubt), who won the G3 Breeders’ Plate on debut and went on to finish runner-up in the Magic Millions and win the G2 Champagne Classic.

“The quality through the spring perhaps wasn't quite as high as last year but the autumn was very strong, so I think we just had slightly later-maturing types who then really stuck their hands up in the autumn,” Eustace says.

“Dubious was and is a standout. He was really good at the Magic Millions and he had an amazing campaign throughout the year. His grand final will be the Coolmore and we'll work back from that. He’s sharp and he knows his job very well; he really knows how to race and likes getting in a fight.

"We won't be stretching him out, he has a good turn of foot and nearly mixed it with the best sprinters in Queensland, so it'll be the Vain, the McNeil, and then we'll work it out from there.”

At the opposite end of the distance spectrum and from the other side of the world is British owner-breeder Andrew Stone’s Dal Harraild (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), who has been knocking on the door in some decent staying contests since his arrival in Australia and has been freshened up ahead of a spring campaign.

“He deserves a big one. He’s had a break and I think he has really thrived off the back of that,” says Eustace.

Stone is also the breeder of four-time Group 1 winner and young Darley stallion Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Along with Qatar’s Sheikh Fahad Al Thani and Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, owners of the promising stayer Lord Belvedere (GB) (Archipenko {USA}), he is among the growing number of international owners in a stable which appears to have all bases well and truly covered.