‘A slight adjustment’ – Ciaron Maher Racing cuts jobs, sharpens focus on NSW

Ciaron Maher Racing (CMR) has undertaken a restructure of its giant dual-state operation, making a ‘small number’ of staff redundant as part of what it says is a pre-emptive move ahead of a potentially challenging period for the wider thoroughbred industry.

Australia’s largest stable and the country’s winningest trainer this season, with more than $44 million in prize money won by Maher’s horses, the redundancies have been made in recent weeks, affecting staff at Ballarat, its head office in Melbourne’s Albert Park as well as in Sydney.

CMR CEO Ben Sellenger confirmed the job losses to The Straight, describing it as a “reasonably small” number of people affected in what is a “realignment across the business”.

“The reason is (that we are) taking an 18 to 24-month view in terms of challenges that we see as facing the industry and trying to be ahead of the game,” Sellenger said. 

“Like any sort of good corporate modelling, (we are trying) to get ready for what we see as coming in terms of drops in potential prize money and other increasing costs for the industry.”

Sellenger said that while on track, “we couldn’t have had a more successful past six months”, increasing costs had taken their toll.

“We’re subject to what we see as high churn rates of horses, and we’ve also strategically been – and it may be contrary to what is viewed from the outside – dropping our overall horse numbers, just marginally, and trying to increase the quality of our horses” he said.

“It’s nothing drastic, it’s just a slight adjustment, but we think it’s probably good corporate governance.”

Sellenger indicated CMR’s horse numbers had been reduced by 10 to 15 per cent in recent months, but that Maher’s participation at the sales remained as strong as ever, even if it’s off the pandemic heights of 2021 and 2022.

At the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast, Maher signed either outright or in partnership for 34 yearlings, while he also purchased seven at the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Sale and bought five at the Inglis Classic sale.

“Over the last three years, this has been what I’ll deem as our most successful sales period. It’s hard to assess the strength of the bloodstock, but I’m certainly looking at the amount of horses that we’ve managed to acquire, and the amount of liability that we’ve got there … they’ve moved (sold to clients) very quickly,” Sellenger said.

“But importantly for us as well, we’ve been given more horses than we have in the past, certainly in my time, but I think probably in the history of CMR, which is a reflection of the success we’ve been able to get on the track.” 

During the spring, Maher won The Everest with Bella Nipotina, the Caulfield Cup with Duke De Sessa and a MRC Thousand Guineas with Another Prophet, among a string of stakes race successes.

“We’ve been given more horses than we have in the past, certainly in my time, but I think probably in the history of CMR, which is a reflection of the success we’ve been able to get on the track,” – Ben Sellenger

Sellenger stressed that Ballarat, the complex Maher bought from trainer Darren Weir in 2019, remains “an important piece of our puzzle” in the trainer’s stable facilities, with the provincial centre used extensively to educate the stable’s young horses and complementing complexes at Cranbourne and Fingal in Victoria.

But the CEO forecast that CMR plans to have more of an even split of horses in training in Victoria and New South Wales and that Royal Randwick in Sydney could form part of the stable’s longer-term break-up of facilities north of the border.

Maher currently trains from Bong Bong Farm in the state’s Southern Highlands, at Bobs Farm on the beach near Newcastle and at Warwick Farm in Sydney.

“Coming out of Covid, we did invest really heavily in facilities, and we invested really heavily in staff, and building out a world-class data department, and we think that the results speak for themselves,” he said. 

“I think it’s been a positive development, and we will probably realign a little bit to continue that growth into New South Wales.

“Whilst we have pushed really strongly over the border, and our horses in work in that market now probably account for around 30 per cent of our overall horse numbers, we think in the medium term, realistically, there should be an even split between our operations in New South Wales and in Victoria.

“We are just mapping out how we achieve that through facilities, and also looking at staffing, and how we realign to make that a reality.”

Maher has been strongly linked to the Leilani Lodge stables on High Street at Randwick, which are currently occupied by Anthony Cummings. 

Cummings’ trainer’s licence has been revoked by Racing NSW, with his son Edward attempting to gain a metropolitan licence to take over the stables that his grandfather Bart made famous.

A central Sydney training base for Maher, who resides in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, makes sense, Sellenger says.

“There’s no secret to the fact that we’ve been in discussions with the ATC over the past three years, and they’re good partners of ours, as obviously, they’re our landlord at Warwick Farm,” he said.

“But we’ve been in discussion with them for a long time about our desire to ultimately have a base at Randwick. 

“Now, how that happens, we don’t know. There’s obviously a lot to play out with some current things that are going on there. But in the long run, we’d love for our stable to have a home at that base.”