Magic man Ciaron Maher enters uncharted waters with Bella Nipotina in Stradbroke Handicap

Ciaron Maher proved again he is a freak at training Group 1 winners with a $101 boilover on Saturday and now the super trainer has turned his attention to his three-handed Stradbroke Handicap attack.

Ciaron Maher is three-handed in his bid to score a second Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap. Picture: Grant Peters —Trackside Photography.

Fresh from shocking the racing world with a $101 Group 1 boilover, magic man Ciaron Maher admits he is entering uncharted waters with Bella Nipotina in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.

Maher is the man who can seemingly do anything, with the star Victorian trainer conjuring a freakish miracle with triple figure bolter Socks Nation scoring the Group 1 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm.

* Likely field, jockeys: $3 million Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap

But even Maher admits he will have to dig deep into his bag of tricks to get Doomben 10,000 champion Bella Nipotina to score the Stradbroke next Saturday.

For starters there a week of fine Brisbane weather forecast, meaning it is extremely unlikely the Eagle Farm track for Stradbroke day will be in the sweet spot of noted wet tracker Bella Nipotina.

And Bella Nipotina has also never raced over the 1400m trip of the Stradbroke before.

“We haven’t been there (1400m) with Bella before,” Maher said.

“She has raced really well before at 1300(m). But there is no better race to try her at 1400m than a $3 million race.”

* $20,000 bet on horse at Toowoomba gets the chocolates

Doomben 10,000 champion Bella Nipotina will need to break new ground to win the Stradbroke Handicap. Picture. Grant Peters – Trackside Photography.

Maher revealed it was never in the initial blueprint for Bella Nipotina to contest the Group 1 Stradbroke.

He feared the mare would get too much weight.

But he feels she has been well treated at the Stradbroke weights with 55.5kg – with all weights poised to go up another half a kilogram.

“I never thought the Straddy would be an option as I thought she would get too much weight,” Maher said.

“But she’s not too badly off. She went huge in the Doomben 10,000 and then got a rain affected track again in the Kingsford Smith Cup (finishing runner-up behind I Wish I Win).

“She did a bit of work on Saturday morning – I can’t fault her at all and she is in super order.

“We always monitor the weather with her, but if the track was like it was at Eagle Farm on Saturday (not too firm) she will run.

“You look at her form and when she gets that little bit of cut in the ground, she can go to a different level.”

BELLA NIPOTINA WINS THE DOOMBEN 10,000!

In a cracking finish, she defeats the favourite I Wish I Win right on the line!

What a mare she is, and now takes her earnings closer to $10 million 👏 pic.twitter.com/Rt25A4uCK5

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 18, 2024

* ‘His dying wish was that we come back to training'

Maher will be three-handed in Queensland’s most prestigious race as he looks to turn back time and win the Stradbroke again after scoring with Srikandi in 2015.

Srikandi’s Stradbroke win helped to put Maher on the map and his training juggernaut has gone to extraordinary new levels in the past few years.

In latest betting markets, TAB has Bella Nipotina on the third line of betting at $8 for the Stradbroke.

Stablemates Semana ($15) and Nugget ($18) also feature in Maher’s Stradbroke attack.

Originally published as Magic man Ciaron Maher enters uncharted waters with Bella Nipotina in Stradbroke Handicap