Don’t let leading horse trainer Ciaron Maher’s laid-back demeanour be your lasting impression.
asserted
demeanour → let → ?
Asked whether he recalled a horse called Electric Turban, he did not miss a beat.
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he → ask → beat
“Yeah, that was one of Richard Freyer’s,” Maher said.
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Maher → say → Freyer
It is also the most recent horse he rode around the two miles at Flemington, where he will race
That ride happened way back in April 2002 when Maher was a tearaway jumps jockey who had moved from Warrnambool to live at the end of the Flemington straight with a bunch of other aspiring jockeys.
Maher finished fourth on Electric Turban midway through his career in the saddle that was never going to go far given his size.
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that → ride → size
He rode a respectable 26 winners from 210 rides and finished third in the Brierly Steeplechase at Warrnambool on Yallah Limit in 2002.
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He → ride → 2002
“Safe to say that I was better on the other side of the fence,” Maher said.
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Maher → say → fence
But he recalls with fondness the vibe among jumps jockeys on Melbourne Cup Day as the lesser lights raced in the Cup Hurdle, which was won and done before midday, allowing them to settle in for a big day with family and friends.
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them → recall → family
His only ride in the Cup Hurdle came 26 years ago on Taylors Bridge for the late Peter Hayes.
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ride → come → Hayes
Maher’s mount sat back in the field and just managed to avoid a fallen horse, Gilligan, and finished seventh.
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mount → sit → horse
Later that day Brew won the big one from the outside barrier.
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Brew → win → barrier
It’s a reputation the rest of the jumps jockey fraternity used to wear as a badge of honour.
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rest → ’ → honour
”Some would say I still am,” he said with a wry grin.
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he → say → grin
He hides the madness well, running the country’s biggest training operation with a calmness that seems to translate to his horses.
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that → hide → horses
His business has about 900 horses and operates out of six locations – three in Victoria and three in NSW.
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business → have → NSW
The systems and planning required is astounding.
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systems → require → ?
Maher invests heavily in science, data analysis and horse wellbeing.
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Maher → invest → science
What puts Maher among the elite trainers, however, is not the whizz bang devices or the high-performance staff.
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puts → put → trainers
It’s his desire to learn about horses, which has not diminished from the moment his mum, Eileen, dropped him off at trainer Shayne Fisher’s property near the family dairy farm in Winslow, in Victoria’s south-west, when he was just out of primary school.
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he → ’ → school
Fisher, a hugely respected horseman around Warrnambool, laughs at the memories of a bunch of local kids including Ciaron and his brother Declan, his own stepson, Australian equestrian champion Jamie Kermond, and others hanging out at his property on weeknights.
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Fisher → laugh → weeknights
On weekends, they would jump in his truck to attend showjumping, pony club events or shetland steeplechase races.
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they → jump → showjumping
“He spent a lot of time at our place,” Fisher recalled.
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Fisher → spend → place
“He was very keen and wanted to have a go at everything.
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He → want → everything
They were wild buggers, got into bull riding and all sorts of things.
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They → get → things
They weren’t just little kids sitting on the sidelines.
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They → sit → sidelines
“They got to learn the basics with every horse, not just horseracing.
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They → get → horseracing
We taught them the basics of horse handling,” Fisher said.
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Fisher → teach → handling
They became tough, too.
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They → become → ?
Fisher laughed as he recalled Maher one day squealing that he could not stop a horse he was riding only to be told, “point him at the shed”.
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he → laugh → shed
That, apparently, would encourage the horse to pull up.
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That → encourage → horse
Maher became an apprentice, before moving to the city to work with the Hayes stable.
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Maher → become → stable
However, once he turned his attention to training in late 2005, Fisher realised the youngster’s aspirations in that field exceeded his own.
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aspirations → turn → own
Maher didn’t just want to be a trainer, he wanted to be Victoria’s leading trainer.
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he → want → ?
Maher hadn’t wasted his time as a jumps jockey.
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Maher → waste → jockey
That speciality requires riders to work with the animal rather than just jumping on their back, often breaking or pre-training horses or doing trackwork.
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speciality → require → trackwork
Former jumps jockeys trained the winners of both the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate this year.
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jockeys → train → Cup
“Normally the jumps jocks are riding the difficult horses,” Maher said.
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Maher → rid → horses
As a track rider he worked for greats such as Bart Cummings, Jim Houlahan and Paddy Payne.
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he → work → Cummings
He then rode in Ireland and, later, worked there as well, storing the lessons every moment provided.
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moment → ride → lessons
“I never took notes, but I do think about every little thing [I experienced] when a scenario comes up [now],” Maher said.
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Maher → take → thing
Maher’s first breakthrough as a trainer came when, on the final day of the 2007 Flemington carnival, the gelding Tears I Cry won the group 1 mile at huge odds.
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gelding → come → odds
…and 42 more, not listed.
The Aporia
