Caulfield Cup-winning trainer Ciaron Maher recently celebrated two Group One wins by his charge Kenedna in the space of five weeks. Kenedna scored her first Group One win in the Coolmore Legacy at Randwick during The Championships followed by a dominant performance in the 2019 Doomben Cup.

The 5YO has proven herself a mare of the highest order, with today’s race her 18th consecutive start at Stakes level.

Kenedna (Not A Single Doubt x Miss Dodwell) was an A$80,000 Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale buy for Darren Weir, John Foote and MDR Bloodstock, from the Arrowfield Stud draft.

The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained mare has now won just shy of A$2m.

The Impact speaks to the celebrated trainer about his future plans and much more
Q: What is your vision for Ciaron Maher Racing? Where do you expect to see yourselves in another decade?
A: We’d like to be the leading trainer in Australia, and racing internationally. We are big on goal setting within the organization and very much run things like a corporate company, with an advisory board and management structure. This helps everyone in their roles to focus on the parts of the business that they excel in and need to be focusing on. Having this structure has allowed us to grow quickly, as demonstrated with the recent acquisition of our Ballarat location and expansion into Sydney.

Q: What's on your bucket list of racing records to break?
A: I would like to be the first trainer to have had a winner of every group one in Australia! There are over 70 each year so it might take a fair few years! Of course, the Gr.1 Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup are up there in terms of the key feature races to win. I’ve been lucky enough to already win the Caulfield Cup, Coolmore Stud Stakes, Coolmore Legacy Stakes, Kennedy (Crown) Oaks, McKinnon (Emirates) Stakes, The BMW, Tatts Tiara, Queensland Derby, Stradbroke, Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes and the Thousand Guineas.

Q: Are you in the process of pitching or planning to pitch any of your pupils for The Everest this year? If yes, can you please tell us more?
A: Dubious is the obvious choice, although it might come a bit early for Dubi – we’ll see. Spirit of Valor could be a chance.

Q: Could you tell us about some your anecdotes from the track/success stories?
A: Jameka would still be my greatest success story, she was just a superstar mare. I realized she was good the first time I sat on her myself many years ago, then after her first start, I knew she was something special. She ran in a 900m race at Bendigo and ran second but they broke the record. She was a big scopey, a leggy 2-year-old filly who just got better with age. I’m excited to see her protégé in future and we have her full brother in the stable at the moment, completing his yearling education.
As far as anecdotes go, there’s an old saying “keep yourself and them happy” – it applies to the staff and the horses in our stable. Keep them both happy and they’ll deliver the results. That has served me well over the years.

Q: What are your plans to go for a Group One hat-trick with Kenedna?
A: She’s now 3 in a row with two Group Ones and a Group Two but of course, we’ll be going for the Group One hat-trick in the spring.

Q: What are the big goals for Kenedna in 2019?
A: We’ll be working towards the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate or McKinnon Stakes.

Q: In this day and age, it has become the norm to retire a horse early rather than to wait for him/her to mature. In the case of Kenedna, she seems to be getting better and better with age. What do you feel about this trend to retire horses early?
A: It’s just the way it is now they are very valuable assets to the breeding industry and the resell and breeding of yearlings is lucrative, particularly with stallions, hence you don’t see a lot get raced on. You can see the benefits in doing it with the right horse though. As we are seeing now with Kenedna, she has only become a dual group one winner in the past month as a rising 5-year-old. She’s so fit and well that it makes sense for us to go for a big Spring target race with her, but I’ve no doubt there are many potential Group One horses who never get that opportunity.