Unit Five's Magic tribute to the legacy of David Merrick

Cover image courtesy of Racing Photos

Smart colt Unit Five (Supido) stamped his Gold Coast ticket the week before Christmas, debuting in the $250,000 Magic Millions VIC 2YO Classic and putting his rivals to the sword to record a two and a half-length victory over Ko Phangan (Ole Kirk).

The $137,500 first prize was more than enough to cement the Ciaron Maher-trained colt’s spot in Saturday’s R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, where he will be joined by stablemate Tornado Valley (Too Darn Hot {GB}) to vie for a share of $3 million.

Being in the race is the stuff for dreams for his breeders - Widden Stud’s Stud Manager Ben Walsh, Nominations Manager Matt Comerford, Yearling Manager Liam Attwood, Financial Manager Andrew Swales, and former team member Jarrod Robinson - who only stretched to four figures to secure his dam.

There is also the feeling that the colt has a little bit of guidance from above, courtesy of his namesake David Merrick, who spent over 30 years at the helm of Widden Stud.

The bargain buy who delivered

Unit Five is the second foal out of winning Toorak Toff mare En Aval, a half-sister to the dam of Listed Lonhro Plate winner Bellazaine (Zousain). En Aval’s dam is where the family gets really exciting, being a half-sister to Group 2 winner and Group 1-performed Villa Verde (Not A Single Doubt), dam of star 3-year-old My Gladiola (I Am Invincible), and G1 New Zealand Oaks fourth Miss Sharapova (Not A Single Doubt), dam of Widden Victoria resident Doubtland.

En Aval had been a cheap online purchase for her team of breeders, costing $9500 in July of 2021 after initially passing in during an Inglis Digital auction. Her page’s affinity for Not A Single Doubt was what drew her buyers in, and she was selected specifically to support Not A Single Doubt’s multiple stakes-winning son Anders in his first year at stud.

“Given we couldn’t send her to Doubtland, we thought she would be a good mare to send to Anders, who we were standing in the same year,” said Swales.

En Aval’s first foal, delivered in 2022, created a splash at the 2024 yearling sales when selling for $300,000 to Griffiths De Kock Racing and Peter Ford Thoroughbreds (FBAA). In her second season at stud, she patronised fellow Widden resident Supido.

The colt who would become Unit Five was conceived as part of the largest book the son of Sebring has covered to date, where 170 mares flocked to the son of Sebring, impressed by how his first crop matured into 3-year-olds.

Buenos Noches, a $40,000 Widden graduate sold at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale to his trainer Matthew Smith, exploded onto the scene with victory in the Listed Poseidon Stakes and placings in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and G2 Danehill Stakes. Swales’ wife had assisted foaling down Buenos Noches at Widden, so each performance was particularly special.

Over in Western Australia, another son Kosta’s Crown was an impressive winner and ran third in the G3 WA Sires' Produce Stakes. Swales and En Aval’s ownership initially had other mating plans in mind for the mare, but the swathe of performances shifted the needle.

“He had a few good horses appear at the same time, so it seemed like a good time to support him,” he said.

What’s in a name?

Unit Five didn’t cause quite the same stir as his older brother at the sales in 2025 - but things were not in his favour. On arrival at the complex, the colt injured his foot and could not be paraded for the first few days of inspections.

Fortunately, Ciaron Maher was not deterred.

“We always thought he was a nice type, and when Ciaron took an interest in him through Sam White, we thought it would be a good idea to stay in the horse,” Swales said. “There were also a few other people, like (Widden Stud General Manager) Derek Field's wife Marguerite, that had some interest in him, so we thought we would retain a share and put a little group together that could have a little bit of fun with him.”

Ciaron Maher Bloodstock signed the docket for Lot 359 to the tune of $80,000 - not quite the same bar as Unit Five’s elder brother earned the year before, but still the highest priced Supido of the sale. Swales and the group stayed in for a total of 20%, retaining 1.5% shares each and syndicating the rest out to friends and family.

The colt’s name is unusual to the outside eye, but to the Widden team, it is something quite special. Nestled in the Widden Valley, Widden Stud experiences poor reception across its expanse of over 8000 acres, and as such, staff communicate by two-way radio. For the duration of the late David Merrick’s 30-year tenure as stud manager, he was referred to as ‘Unit Five’.

After his passing in February of 2025, the callsign found a new home in the Maher-trained colt.

“The real driving factor behind the name was one of the other owners, Tony Stevens,” Swales said. “He reached out to us here at Widden and asked if we would be on board with the name Unit Five. Given the timing of when everything happened, we thought that would be a very nice sentiment.”

A fitting tribute

From his early life at Woodlands Stud to his time at the helm of Widden and beyond, Merrick’s influence was far reaching across the industry. He had a hand in the arrival into the world of G1 Golden Slipper Stakes-winning champion Marscay and oversaw the stallion’s final days at Widden, before Marscay’s passing in 2000.

He was present for the brilliant and tragically cut short stud career of Northern Meteor, that of Sebring, and the first steps of Champion Sire's Zoustar’s career. Hundreds of yearlings were raised and prepared for sale under Merrick's watchful eye, and many staff have honed their craft under the same gaze.

In 2018, his dedication was recognised with the Murray Bain Award, and the following year, he was honoured in the Thoroughbred Excellence category of the Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards.

“I always had a lot of time for David,” Swales said. “He was on the farm here when I first started eight years ago, and during the first year and a half I was here, I would come on the farm and be very hands on.

“David was the stud manager at the time, I used to do the morning feedruns with him and his knowledge of the horses was amazing. He knew every horse that was on the farm and there's some 700 horses here. I very much enjoyed his sense of humour, and also his leadership and direction as well.”

At times Swales had turned to Merrick for advice, and Swales called on him in particular for advice on the first broodmare he ever bought, Genesta (Redoute’s Choice), a granddaughter of Champion 3YO Filly Alinghi (Encosta De Lago).

“I relied on his opinion when I first bought the mare, I asked him what he thought of her and what he valued her before I bought her,” Swales said. Maher also purchased Genesta’s first foal - bred by Swales - for $260,000 at the Gold Coast in 2022; Some People Callme (Maurice {Jpn}) has picked up three wins and was fourth in the Listed Bendigo Guineas.

Swales will offer a Harry Angel (Ire) filly out of Genesta as Lot 311 in Widden’s Gold Coast draft this week.

“So it was always great that someone had the idea to name a horse after him,” he said. “It's a testament to the person he was and how much guidance he has provided over the years that there's a few horses paying tribute to him.”

One of the others calling Merrick their namesake is 3-year-old filly Davida (Bivouac), the winner of her last two starts for Danny O’Brien, including a Geelong victory last Saturday.

“She is the other one that comes to mind,” Swales said. “She belongs to Robert Anderson, a very close friend of David’s.”

Widden will offer Davida’s Stay Inside half-sister as Lot 66 on Tuesday.

“David is looking after us upstairs with all of these wins just in time for the yearlings to sell,” said Swales.

A Gold Coast dream

After recovering from his foot injury, Unity Five fitted seamlessly into the Maher system, and it didn’t take long for there to be whispers that the trainer had a big opinion of the colt.

“There were a few phone calls to say he was showing a bit of ability,” Swales said. “In the updates, they always said that he's handling everything professionally, he doesn't have a hair out of place, so they kept on pushing on with him and he seems to be handling it pretty well.”

Winning a pair of jump-outs ahead of debut, it was the logical option to send the colt to the Classic race.

“It seemed like he had a bit of a motor under him,” Swales said. “Perhaps the jockeys were having to hold him back a bit. It felt like they hadn’t gotten to the bottom of him yet or really opened it up, so it was quite exciting.

“It took a while to get his name through so they had trialled him to get his barrier certificate and were looking around for the right race, then he drew barrier one in the Classic. I think that was the deciding factor in pushing on to the race, because it was on a five-day back-up from his jump-out. It was hard to say no to that sort of barrier draw and, with that kind of prize money on offer, it would have been difficult to turn that down.”

The colt dutifully saluted and connections could start thinking seriously of a Gold Coast assault. He was sent up after Christmas to have a trial on the track on January 5, and bounced on for an easy win over fellow Classic acceptor Mystical (Exceed And Excel), who finished third.

All roads now lead to Saturday - with a detour through the barrier draw on Tuesday morning - and Swales will be on course in the hopes of ending up in the winners’ circle again.

“I'm flying up Friday evening, hopefully collecting the trophy, and then back home on Sunday,” he said. “It will be great to be trackside, so hopefully we can celebrate a good result. The draw tomorrow (Tuesday morning) is going to be a pretty important factor in shaping the picture of the race.”

In the meantime, Swales will be watching the sales closely as several close relations to Unit Five go under the hammer. Both in Widden’s draft, Lot 300 is out of another half-sister to En Aval, and Lot 390 is out of a daughter of Villa Verde, both of whom have benefited from the lift provided by Unit Five’s debut victory.

Gallery: Lots related to Unit Five in Widden draft at the 2026 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale

“It’s a page that has really developed since we bought her (En Aval),” Swales said. “Since then, there’s been Bellazaine and My Gladiola, who was impressive in the Coolmore. There’s definitely a lot of room for future upgrades in the family.”

May David Merrick be on hand to guide them too.