In the absence of King Charles III, it has been left to Ciaron Maher and the most prodigious stable in racing to provide two crowning moments on an unforgettable day for the master trainer.
As Maher’s footprint across the eastern seaboard expands to cater for horse numbers in a time of unprecedented augmentation that doesn’t appear to have a ceiling, so does his plundering of the nation’s best races.
An hour after Bella Nipotina brushed aside her status as a veteran of our sprinting ranks with the bravest of wins in the $20 million Everest, Duke De Sessa delivered Maher his second Caulfield Cup triumph.
Sydney racing officials tried their best to entice King Charles III to present the trophy attached to the $5 million race named after the ruling monarch.
It wasn’t to be, leaving Maher to reign over Randwick in concert with a seven-year-old mare who is becoming more dynamic as she gets older and a jockey “who showed some balls” to claim the turf’s richest purse.
Maher’s bid for a Group 1 treble across Sydney and Melbourne was denied when Ceolwulf overpowered his weight-for-age star Pride Of Jenni in the closing stages to win the King Charles III Stakes.
During an era of corporate stables that belong to trainers such as Maher, Chris Waller and the Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald partnership, it was left to Ceolwulf’s trainer Joe Pride to sum it up best.
‘That’s one for the corner shop today,” Pride, who likes to keep his string at a level that in this day and age almost borders on boutique status, declared.
Ceolwulf’s victory, a fortnight after he collected a Group 1 breakthrough in the Epsom Handicap over Saturday’s course, ensured Pride’s day ended much better than it started.
The Warwick Farm trainer feared the worst when his 2023 Everest winner Think About It crashed to the racetrack as the field headed for home in the $2 million Sydney Stakes.
While jockey Jason Collett escaped serious injury, there were major concerns for Think About It’s welfare.
Remarkably, Think About It dusted himself off, was led back to his tie-up stall and put his head straight into a bucket of water.
At a race meeting when a 1970s song continues to make a comeback to the point where it has morphed into the unofficial anthem of The Everest, Sweet Caroline was no match for Think About It in the resurrection stakes.
“I’ve been (in racing) long enough to know that half an hour is a long time, an hour is a long time,” Pride said.
“When I saw Think About It’s head bobbing up and off the (infield) screen, honestly, it was such a relief.
“It’s not often that it ends that well.”
Pride says Ceolwulf can reach even greater heights, just as Bella Nipotina has done in an extended career that is a triumph for longevity - and Maher’s two-state operation with its satellite stables scattered across NSW and Victoria.
The race pitched at a new generation of racegoers belonged to one of the old guard on the track. Bella Nipotina held off the 2022 winner Giga Kick, with her stablemate Growing Empire finishing third.
But it needed a nerves-of-steel ride from Craig Williams from the outside barrier to give Maher his first Everest victory, the jockey his second and a result for TAB, the race's sponsor and the Bella Nipotina slot holder.
Bella Nipotina began as well any horse but when Storm Boy drove through to hold the rail, she was left stranded wide without cover and her chances of becoming the first mare to win an Everest appeared over.
But Maher knew differently.
“We thought she was in career-best form, and she got her (soft) conditions to suit,” Maher said.
“We said at the barrier draw, she's got an uncanny knack of running very well from any gate, wide, inside, doesn't matter.
“(It was a) beautiful ride to have the balls to do that.”
Maher also had much to thank unheralded jockey Harry Coffey for as Duke De Sessa ended 18 months of stable frustration in winning the $5 million Caulfield Cup.
Coffey, who battles cystic fibrosis, turned 29 on Saturday. He rode Duke De Sessa on the speed and the result was never in doubt from the top of the straight.
The import, winless in 12 previous Australian starts including an unplaced run in last year’s Caulfield Cup, careered away before holding off the fast-finishing favourite, the Waller-trained Buckaroo.
