Maranoa Charlie an Arqana success story for Australian Peter Maher

This article has been produced thanks to the sponsorship of Arqana

Australian Peter Maher is back at Deauville at Arqana's August Sale this week looking for his next success story.

It might not have been quite beginner’s luck, but Valentine Waltz certainly whet Australian owner Peter Maher’s appetite for European racing.

It was just before the turn of the century, in 1997, when Maher ventured to the northern hemisphere for the first time with the intention of buying a racehorse.

And, as was his good fortune, the filly he picked out, a daughter of Be My Guest to be named Valentine Waltz, would go on to win three of her nine starts in England, Ireland and France.

On top of that, Valentine Waltz also reached the pinnacle by taking out the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, a Group 1 at Longchamp over a mile, for her then trainer John Gosden.

From there, the rest in history, with Valentine Waltz far from a one-hit wonder for Maher and his racing mates over the next more than quarter of a century of racing horses. 

Since the days of Valentine Waltz, Maher has been a regular visitor to Europe, and particularly France, where he has been buying and racing horses to supplement his Australian racing interests.

For the most part, his happy hunting ground has been France auction house Arqana and its August Yearling Sale in Deauville, which is on again from the 16th to 18th.

It was the August Sale two years ago when Maher and his long-time bloodstock adviser, Broadhurst Agency’s Laurent Benoit, struck it lucky again with the purchase of Wootton Bassett colt Maranoa Charlie.

Trained by Christopher Head for Maher and his co-owners, Maranoa Charlie won three of his four starts at two before returning this year to win at Group 3 level at Deauville and the Prix Paul de Moussac over 1400m two starts later.

It was then that Maher faced an enviable predicament: to sell or not to sell the prized Wootton Bassett colt.

They chose the former, with Maranoa Charlie finishing runner-up in the Prix Jean Prat at Group 1 level on July 6 for his new owners.

“For those of us that have been racing horses for a long time, when you do get a good one, you want to hold onto them for as long as you possibly can, but in the same breath, if you're not trading them, and we are traders, then you sort of can't survive either, so it's a double-edged sword, to be truthful with you,” Maher says.

“It’s that fine line between trying to sell them when they're worth the most potentially before that potential's actually proven. As I said, that's half the challenge you've got in trying to do that.”

Maher, who founded and later sold Australian media monitoring business Rehame, was at Deauville to witness Maranoa Charlie finish a short neck runner-up in the Prix Jean Prat and he remains in Deauville ahead of this week’s August Sale.

“If you're ever going to go to a horse sale anywhere in the world, there’s no doubt that Deauville is the only place you’d want to go,” Maher says. 

“It's the first seaside town from Paris, so if you're in Paris and you want to get to the seaside, Deauville is your closest spot to do that. 

“It’s like Sorrento or Portsea or somewhere like that, as far as Victorians are concerned, or the Central Coast, as far as New South Wales people are concerned. 

“It's just one of those beautiful places with its Normandy architecture, which looks fantastic, and the sales complex is across the road from the racecourse. 

“It is a really special place to go and buy a horse or to spend a week looking at horses.”

Maher says one of the potential upsides of racing horses in France is their resale value if you are lucky to own a good one as was the case with the private sale of Maranoa Charlie.

“The simple fact is, Maranoa Charlie's won about 450, 460,000 euro now, which is close enough probably to about $800,000 or $900,000 Australian. So, for the horse to do that in a year, it's a good effort,” he says.

“And the fact that he hasn't won a Group 1 yet, makes it probably even more respectable.”

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The owner also says training fees are slightly cheaper in France than in Australia.

“As far as the training is concerned, one of the greatest assets this place has is Chantilly, the training centre,” Maher says.

“It's just unbelievable how good it is. It doesn't matter how many times you go to Chantilly, you're just knocked out by how fantastic the centre is. 

“And I think if there's ever one thing Australia could learn from France, it's why we don't have training centres of the equivalent of somewhere like Chantilly, because it is just extraordinary how good it is.”

This article has been produced thanks to the sponsorship of Arqana

Written by Tim Rowe