The racing odd couple who raked in $36 million in winnings last season

Aziz “Ozzie” Kheir selfishly wishes Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained half the number of horses they do.

The Melbourne businessman and prominent racehorse owner has horses in a number of stables in Australia, but most of his topliners are stabled with Maher and Eustace, the juggernaut training operation based in Ballarat.

Ciaron Maher and David Eustace are racing’s odd couple, but they’ve made a habit of winning big races.Credit: Jason South

Kheir’s alliance with the duo has delivered plenty– a Cox Plate with Sir Dragonet in 2020, and two derbies and an Australian Guineas with Hitotsu – but the desire to win more of Australia’s best races doesn’t wane.

Maher and Eustace have become the go-to trainers when it comes to Melbourne Cup imports.

The odd couple, who won last year’s Cup with the Australian Bloodstock-owned Gold Trip, make a habit each year out of picking out the best stayers in Europe who they believe can not only compete but win on the first Tuesday of November.

Saint George was their marquee purchase this year, in partnership with Kheir, but a minor setback for the horse while racing at Newmarket in England meant the spring dream was dashed.

Luckily for Maher and Eustace, their chances don’t end there.

The stable had 17 nominations for this year’s Cup and had nine in contention when second acceptances were taken on Tuesday. Last year they had five in the race, including the winner Gold Trip and third-placed High Emocean. They had four contenders in 2021, with Floating Artist their best performed finishing fourth, and three in 2020 when Persan and Sir Dragonet finished fifth and sixth respectively.

“Anyone can nom them, it’s getting them in the race that’s the key,” Maher tells this masthead.

“The last two years we’ve had nice numbers. That’s more the focus, but the horses [this year], they all have credentials. A lot of stuff has got to go the right way and the horse has got to be in good form at the time, but they certainly warrant their nominations.”

Gold Trip is aiming to defend his Melbourne Cup title.Credit: Penny Stephens

Will Bourne, bloodstock manager for Ciaron Maher Racing, says the stable spends between
$10 million and $15 million “on tried horses and bloodstock each year”, with Maher’s sole focus on winning the majors.

“We’ve had good success the last two years,” Maher says.

“They’re hard to find, international Melbourne Cup horses. Everyone in the whole world is looking for them. It’s not like you can go and find as many as you want. You probably get as many as you can that you think will be competitive, will get the right weight, the right age, the right conditions and the right horse.

“There’s strict vetting, so it’s very, very hard to find a horse for the Melbourne Cup.”

From Kheir, owner of hotel and hospitality group Resimax, to Dubai royals such as Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum, Maher has an enviable list of clients to help chase his group 1 dreams.

“I believe there are many good trainers in Australia that would be world-class, but there wouldn’t be many that have the systems to train the number of horses they have in work and yet be across the detail that owners require for their horses,” Kheir says.

“They spend the time to get to know what makes each horse tick to bring out the best of their ability, be it a horse trying to win a maiden in the country or group 1 race.

“Naturally, you gravitate to the best in the business and want to feel confident that your trainer will bring out the best in your horse to make that dream a reality.

Ozzie Kheir, second from the right, says Ciaron Maher and David Eustace are world-class trainers.Credit: Tash Sorensen

“The stable has continued to perform at the elite level for a sustained period of time, which is extremely difficult to do in such an unpredictable industry year-on-year.”

But the juggernaut is still building steam. In Maher’s first season in training in 2008-09 in Warrnambool, he won $638,235 in prizemoney for his owners. He broke the $1 million barrier in 2011-12, the $2 million barrier two seasons later, the $4.5 million mark in the following season, and $8 million two campaigns later in his final season (2016-17) before going into partnership, the year he won a career-changing Caulfield Cup with mare Jameka.

Eustace, son of Newmarket trainer James Eustace, came to Australia and worked under Peter Moody and the Snowdens before taking on an assistant trainer role with Maher.

Two seasons later, the pair went into partnership. In their first season together, in 2018-19, they won two group 1s and more than $12 million in prizemoney. Since, they’ve won a Melbourne Cup and a Cox Plate. Last season, they won 11 group 1 races and more than $36 million in stakes money.

“I see us as one,” Maher says of his partnership with Eustace.

“Dave and I are the guys at the top, but there’s my brother Dec, Jack [Turnbull], Jo [Gerard-Dubord], there’s the board, [chairman] Jonathan Crisp, there’s vets, pre-trainers, beach facilities, it’s everyone.

“To say it’s just Dave and I, it is actually quite a big business now and there’s a number of people and everyone has to play their part for it to work.”

In fact, Ciaron Maher Racing might be one of the few training operations to have a chief executive officer.

“It’s important because we’ve got a big business with a number of arms,” Maher says.

Eustace (left) and Maher with jockey Mark Zahra after their Melbourne Cup win.Credit: Racing Photos

“We’ve got a bloodstock side, there’s all your HR, there’s business side, your content and comms side, media side, and the horse side. You’ve got your sport science, your logistic side, there’s a lot of moving parts to the business.

“In any good business, people focus on their part of the business that they’re good at. If it’s training, good, if it’s logistics, good. If it’s veterinary, if it’s science, whatever. And they’ve all got to gel together, obviously.”

Kheir says Maher and Eustace are an odd couple, but they complement each other.

“I think like most good partnerships there is the yin and the yang, and they definitely have that on many fronts,” he says.

“There is a massive respect for each other and no ego, which is a credit to them, and that flows down to how their team bond also. They are both extremely confident in their ability, which gives owners the sense of security to be guided with whatever they decide.”

Maher’s reputation is one of a mad scientist; a complete horseman but also an entrepreneur, a risk-taker who dreams for the stars.

Colleagues, such as Bourne and racing manager Reece Murphy, say Eustace’s work ethic is his standout quality. Kheir says Eustace knows every horse inside out, knows when to be patient, and how to manage expectations.

“He kept us waiting nearly two years for one he trained and when he produced her, she won seven races straight,” says Kheir, referring to Yonce.

Gold Trip, with his strapper Mitchell Conners.Credit: Penny Stephens

“He keeps reminding us of that when we are getting impatient.”

Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip remains one of their flag bearers this spring. He’ll run in Saturday’s Turnbull Stakes, and all going well, will try and defend his title at Flemington next month.

Import Light Infantry, part-owned by Kheir, shapes as their leading Cox Plate contender, while three-year-old King Colorado is an untapped talent.

Syndicator David Azzopardi says Maher and Eustace “throw their horses in at the deep end earlier than most trainers do”, and that’s held them in great stead.

“They will put their horses up against the best, even if they’re coming off maiden wins or benchmark-64 wins,” Azzopardi says.

“They’re prepared to have a go at stakes races and group races earlier than most trainers would, but that comes from the data they’re using. They know when a horse has got ability to be placed in city class.”

With Maher dabbling in sports science and data to improve his odds of winning, he says there’s still plenty of room for growth in what they can achieve.

“I feel we’re just scratching the surface,” he says.

“You look at where a lot of other sports have come from and got to, they’ve changed a hell of a lot. It’s a pretty exciting space.”

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