Racing’s ‘odd couple’ Ciaron Maher, David Eustace on how their training partnership works

Co-trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace are racing’s odd couple, but their differences are helping make their new team one of the most powerful in the country, writes LAUREN WOOD.

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Ciaron Maher felt the spark.

The wild-haired trainer first met David Eustace when the latter was working for Peter Moody, having moved to Melbourne a few years prior from Newmarket in the UK.

“We were out and about somewhere, and there was just something about him,” Maher said.

“There was a spark there. I knew he had the passion and he was a hard worker. He’s a good-looking rooster and presents well, so he ticks all the boxes.”

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David Eustace and Ciaron Maher have formed a successful training combination. Picture: Getty Images

That’s typical Maher. Dry, a bit of a dig, a half smirk.

He was training on his own before the pair crossed paths but didn’t hesitate to launch the poaching raid, offering Eustace a spot as an assistant trainer.

Just a few short years on, the pair are now on level standing as one of the strongest training partnerships in Australian racing.

They’re racing’s odd couple, a suggestion to which Maher laughs, but nods.

Him the former Winslow dairy farmer with the untamed locks who used to spend time in the saddle and Eustace, 28, the sharp-dressing son of a trainer.

Each has their strengths – necessary in the equal responsibility in a training partnership that was formalised ahead of last spring.

Like any relationship, it is a fine art to strike the right balance.

The shared responsibility has its challenges, Maher admits, and they have to support one anothers’ favouritism and foibles.

“It’s a bit like placing a horse – building the team is a bit like putting together a team of horses,” Maher said.

“You can’t be all the same. You’ve got to diversify a little bit. There’s some things that are my strengths that might not be David’s strengths. And then vice versa.

Jockey Damian Lane and Ciaron Maher at trackwork. Picture: AAP

“He’s quite organised and he’s good with the staff. I wouldn’t say I’m not, but … he’s very good with the owners and stuff like that. He’s like an older fella trapped in a younger man’s body and I’m a bit the opposite.”

Eustace, meanwhile, has referred to Maher as “the nutty professor” and the “light-bulb man”.

They’ve never fought, Maher says, but there is a fair few “good debates” that they “generally get right”.

As for “that” hair — it doesn’t get quite as much love as his equine charges, Maher laughs.

“None, actually,” he said.

“I actually had a haircut (last) week. Malarie Cox down there in Fitzroy Street in St Kilda – she attacked it about two years ago, maybe 18 months. And she was a bit surprised in the lack of care.”

The pair’s biggest win this spring came last month when Loving Gaby saluted in the Manikato Stakes. On Saturday, they will saddle up imports Southern France and Dal Harraild in the Zipping Classic at Sandown.

The Maher/Eustace team had Group 1 success with Loving Gaby last month. Picture: Getty Images

They have also entered comeback galloper Humidor in the event, but are still undecided if he will run.

The seven-year-old gelding is hunting its first win under Maher and Eustace, after he was transferred to their care after they took over Darren Weir’s Forest Lodge in Ballarat in the wake of the Weir scandal earlier this year.

“We’ll be cautious on running because we feel he’s done a good job this preparation off the back of an injury and we don’t want to go to the well unnecessarily,” Eustace told AAP this week.

A lot has changed since last spring, Maher admits, and it has been a “very busy” year as the empire expanded on its already-expanded size.

Maher and Eustace are now responsible for “a couple of hundred” horses, which he said had “been exciting” and something of the final piece of the puzzle for the pair.

Humidor is one of three runners for Maher and Eustace in the Zipping Classic on Saturday. Picture: AAP

“I never planned for what happened (with Weir), but we doubled in size when we took over Rick Hore-Lacy’s (Caulfield stables in 2015), and then we doubled again when we took over Peter Moody’s (in 2016), and albeit it was on a lot bigger scale, we doubled again.

“It wasn’t something new … we knew what we were in for. We’d done it a couple of times and you sort of know where the pressure’s going to come through expanding that way. But it’s been exciting.

“It’s a phenomenal stable that we picked up. It provides like a completion – we’ve got our beach facility, we’ve got Caulfield and Ballarat.

“They all provide slightly different training aspects and we’ve got Sydney as well and feel like we can place our horses almost anywhere in Australia to achieve the best result.”

Originally published as Racing’s ‘odd couple’ Ciaron Maher, David Eustace on how their training partnership works