It’s science: How Ciaron Maher is reinventing the training game
Ciaron Maher has adopted an intriguing mix of tried and true training methods with cutting edge technologies as he sets out to build on his stable’s sensational start to the season.
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Ciaron Maher has adopted an intriguing mix of tried and true training methods with cutting edge technologies as he sets out to build on his stable’s sensational start to the season.
The champion trainer leads the national premierships for most wins and prizemoney after raising the bat for his 50th career Group 1 win when Another Prophet claimed the Thousand Guineas last week.
Maher’s two-state stable operation that includes seven training sites continues to roll along seamlessly and successfully despite former partner David Eustace’s decision to move to Hong Kong to train earlier this year.
It’s almost a case of “if it ain’t broke, why fix it” for Maher when asked if he was looking for a new training partner to share the workload.
“Not as yet,’’ Maher said. “It might be something we look at in the future.’’
• EXPERT TIPS: 2024 Railway Stakes, The Gong, The Meteorite
Maher is looking to continue his stable’s winning momentum this Saturday where he is chasing more big-race success in the Group 3 $1 million The Gong (1600m) at the Kembla Grange stand-alone meeting with stablemates Gringotts, Griff, Berkshire Shadow, Vivy Air and first emergency Glory Daze.
At Perth’s Ascot meeting, Maher has Light Infantry Man and Socks Nation in the Group 1 $1.5 million Railway Stakes (1600m), while at Cranbourne the trainer is represented by Nadal in the $1 million The Meteorite (1200m) and has four entered for the Listed $500,000 Cranbourne Cup (1600m) with Nugget, Running By, Cosmic Vega and Flash Flood.
Maher’s training and racing operation is vast. In NSW, he has stables at Warwick Farm, Bong Bong and Bob’s Farm near Newcastle, while in Victoria he trains out of Ballarat, Cranbourne, Pakenham and Mornington Peninsula.
This gives Maher access to all the variables he needs to help maximise a horse’s performance from the routine of major city training centres, to more relaxed rural facilities and access to regular beach work.
• Clinton Payne’s The Gong tips, runner-by-runner form analysis
Bella Nipotina was a prime example of how Maher adapted her training regimen during the mare’s triumphant five-race spring campaign and she responded with a career-best win in the Group 1 The Everest as well as victory in the $3m Russell Balding Stakes. She was placed in her other three starts and earned more than $9.8 million prizemoney.
Maher had Bella Nipotina prepared mainly out of Bob’s Farm where she had access to regular beachwork but he moved her to Bong Bong for The Everest.
“She spent most of her time at ‘Bob’s’ but after she won The Everest we got her into the spa at Bong Bong as I didn’t want her to travel quite so far with the two week turnaround,’’ Maher explained.
Bella Nipotina has won a fair chunk of the stable’s $36.3 million prizemoney earned since August 1. The season isn’t four months old and at this rate Maher is going to shatter the all-time record of $51.6 million set by Chris Waller for the 2023-24 season.
Maher has also trained 118 winners on all racetracks so far this season and is also on pace to challenge the record of 492 wins set by Darren Weir in 2017-18.
But the trainer can’t be everywhere at once so how does he do it?
“I have a good team around me that I can rely on,’’ Maher said.
"It's only his fourth run in and he's probably the class runner."
— Racing NSW (@racing_nsw) November 20, 2024
Trainer @cmaherracing respects the job Big Dance winner Gringotts has in Saturday's $1m @illawarramerc Gong at @kemblaraces where he has five runners. Plus the King's horse Gilded Water's Oz debut. @gregprichardpic.twitter.com/zSOerjSoMu
• Shayne O’Cass’s race-by-race tips and analysis for The Gong Day at Kembla Grange
Maher is also at the forefront of innovation in racing but admits he is only “scratching the surface’’ when it comes to using new technologies and sport science, and interspersing them with proven, more traditional training methods.
“When you have a lot of locations, which I think is a benefit, everything is recorded so we don’t miss anything or any piece of work,’’ Maher said.
“It works for us because of our set-up and it helps you make better informed decisions.’’
On Maher’s website, there is an explanation of what the trainer describes as the “components of sports science’’ to improve equine performance.
This is broken up into various categories – recovery, genetics, nutrition, cardiovascular/metabolic systems and biomechanics.
Although there is always room for the old-fashioned stopwatch and binoculars, Maher collates the wealth of data information from races, ratings and training programs to help improve performance.
“The data doesn’t lie,’’ said Maher, a phrase he repeats often during this interview.
“Every sport in the world has improved (with sport science and technology) but horse racing has stayed the same a little bit.
“But horse racing is a game of increasingly smaller margins and we are always looking and assessing, taking a lot of different statistics and data to find where we can improve, areas we can focus on.
“We have quite a few board meetings throughout the year to assess where we are at, how we are travelling and forecasting – we do a lot of that.’’
Ciaron has shared his top three moments from the spring, starting at number 3 with Duke De Sessa’s Caulfield Cup win, made even more memorable with @HTCoffey onboard. This marked Ciaron Maher Racing’s second Caulfield Cup victory. pic.twitter.com/do9RwZAmeS
— Ciaron Maher Racing (@cmaherracing) November 18, 2024
• Early Oil: $61 blowout chance on Cranbourne Cup Day
Gringotts is certainly a product of Maher’s training programs as he demonstrated with a dominant effort to win the Big Dance at Royal Randwick on Melbourne Cup Day.
In latest TAB Fixed Odds betting for The Gong, price assessors have Gringotts at $5 behind favourite Territory Express at $4.60.
“Gringotts and ‘Jimmy’ (Jimmysstar) are not too dissimilar,’’ Maher said.
“Ozzie (Kheir) found them in New Zealand, we have been patient with them and they are getting better with every preparation.
“Gringotts put the writing on the wall first-up, backed it up at his second run then the Big Dance was his target race.
“You would think The Gong and The Ingham would be two nice races for him.’’
Vivy Air, runner-up to Gringotts in the Big Dance, is at $14 with stablemates Berkshire Shadow ($17), Glory Daze ($34) and Griff ($81) giving Maher a strong hand in The Gong.
Maher became only the 15th trainer in Australian racing history to prepare 50 or more Group 1 winners when he reached that milestone in the Thousand Guineas last week. Remarkably, he has trained 30 Group 1 winners since the start of 2022.
Cup Week ✅
— Ciaron Maher Racing (@cmaherracing) November 9, 2024
A sensational week put on by @FlemingtonVRC, great atmosphere and even greater racing. pic.twitter.com/MNdBJ4kUdQ
• Laurie’s Longshot Tips: $101 roughie ‘worth a play’
The champion trainer is chasing another major with last start Chester Manifold Stakes winner Light Infantry Man in the Railway Stakes in Perth.
“Light Infantry Man probably hadn’t really hit his straps out here until Flemington last start,’’ Maher said.
“It was nice to see him do that and hopefully he can go on with it now.’’
Light Infantry Man must have created a good impression with superstar jockey James McDonald at Flemington because he is flying back from Hong Kong to ride the Maher galloper on Saturday.
The trainer is also making his way to Perth for the Group 1 race where Light Infantry Man is the $3.80 favourite and stablemate Socks Nation is in the market at $14.
“I have been in Melbourne mainly the last couple of weeks,’’ Maher said.
“Then I had a few days off last week and went to see the ‘olds’ at Warrnambool. This week, I was back in Sydney on Tuesday but I will be in Perth for the weekend.’’
Maher’s time management skills must be extraordinary but given his meticulous nature, he is probably working on a program to maximise his time each day.
Originally published as It’s science: How Ciaron Maher is reinventing the training game
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