Eustace reflects on an astonishing three seasons in partnership

Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy

The son of Newmarket trainer James Eustace worked under British trainer Roger Varian before plying his trade in Australia with Peter Moody and Peter and Paul Snowden.

However, joining the prosperous team at Ciaron Maher Racing as Maher’s assistant trainer in 2016 would prove the catalyst for a new dominant force to emerge among the Australian training ranks.

Maher’s rising status combined with increased horses in work saw the 2016/17 season prove his most successful solo mission. He would notch up 110 winners and amass $8,112,022 in prizemoney, a stark contrast to the feats that have followed since appointing Eustace to the role of co-trainer.

The stable managed 188 total winners in 2018/19 and have since gone on to land their 200th Victorian winner for the second consecutive season. They now sit 79 wins clear of Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr atop the Victorian Trainers' Premiership with a strike rate second only to Phillip Stokes in the top 20.

“Reaching 200 winners in Victoria isn’t something that we target or look back on, but I’m really proud of the team and the role they play across six or seven training bases as well as in Queensland,” Eustace told TDN AusNZ.

“For Ciaron and I to do what we do is really all about the people we have around us and them showing the enthusiasm and the will to get the horses to the races in the best possible shape.”

Table: Ciaron Maher Racing total winners per season and prizemoney

* in partnership with David Eustace

Table: Victorian Trainers' Premiership for 2020/21 (at June 25)

Eustace said dethroning Australia’s premier trainer Chris Waller for total winners trained while maintaining their strong strike rate is high on the stable's agenda moving forward.

They fell just seven winners short of being crowned Australia’s leading trainer last season despite saddling up 777 fewer runners than Waller during that period.

“What drives us most is trying to train more winners but we do certainly focus on maintaining a healthy strike rate and placing our horses as best as possible," Eustace said.

“Chris (Waller) does have bigger numbers than us and is willing to run his horses against each other quite often.

"So, we need to focus on splitting our runners up as much as we possibly can to increase our chances of winning more races with the numbers that we have.”

Table: 2020/21 Chris Waller vs Ciaron Maher and David Eustace

Table: 2019/20 Chris Waller vs Ciaron Maher and David Eustace

Table: 2018/19 Chris Waller vs Ciaron Maher and David Eustace

The stable's ascent to the top of the Victorian training ranks last season was powered by the remarkable performance of their outstanding crop of 2-year-olds, headlined by four-time stakes winner Away Game (Snitzel) and dual stakes winner and now Kia Ora stallion Prague.

No cause for concern

However, Eustace believes their decline in juvenile stakes success this season isn’t a cause for concern, saying their lack of 2-year-old achievement compared to last year is reflective of a weaker talent pool and their top-tier talents suffering from interrupted preparations.

He said there are plenty of high-class yearlings currently in the stable and is confident a rapid resurgence in this area can catapult them towards the elusive figure of 300 winners required to compete consistently with Waller.

“It has certainly been a weaker crop for us this year, you have better crops come through some years that are clearly of a superior standard. Also this year we’ve had more injuries to our 2-year-olds particularly at the higher end which hasn't helped,” Eustace said.

“There’s a group of horses that we have at the moment that we expect to be very early running types and they will get their opportunity to compete and prove themselves at the top level.”

Table: Ciaron Maher Racing 2-year-old winners per season

* in partnership with David Eustace