Champion Cranbourne trainer Ciaron Maher and emerging jockey Tom Stockdale have continued their feature-race winning ways after Unit Five made an impressive racetrack debut at Caulfield Heath on Saturday.
Just a week after winning the $1million Supernova at Pakenham aboard the Maher-trained Warnie; Stockdale gave nothing else a chance, dominating from the inside barrier to score a meritorious victory in the $250,000 Magic Millions Vic 2YO Classic (1100m).
Stockdale got a feel for the colt in a jump out at Cranbourne on Monday; a rare opportunity given the Maher stables reluctance to jump out horses in the week leading up to a race.
The in-form hoop left plenty in the tank on Monday, but knew there was plenty more to come under race conditions.
“I didn’t let him off the chain too much at Cranbourne, bearing in mind that this was a possibility, he extended well underneath me when I asked him, but I shut him down quickly on the post,” Stockdale said of the jump out.
“He gave me a nice enough feel, he’s still very raw.
“Today it was good he was pro-active from the barrier, and absorbed that pressure outside us, which isn’t easy to do as a young horse.
“But he seemed to take to it quite well, it was great to see him extend off the bridle today, we hadn’t seen that yet, and I think he’ll improve.
“He’s still very raw, still very ‘looky’ at everything, but he’s got the natural talent to progress into a nice horse.”
When asked to further explain, Stockdale said the inquisitive nature of Unit Five would have to be dealt before he ascends to a higher level.
“He’s just got a habit of looking at every single thing on the way to the gates in his prelim, even in the run, he’s checking out the running rail, checking out the horse beside him, and he’s checking out what’s on the ground,” he said.
“While it’s not impeding too much on him at the moment, you would like to see him iron out those kinks going forward.”
Maher was thrilled with the performance, with the son of Supido/En Aval dictating terms throughout before extending for a two-and-a-half length victory on the line.
A trip north, for the lucrative Magic Millions series on the Gold Coast in January, is now a distinct possibility.
“It was an easy watch wasn’t it, I’m just rapt with the horse; he’s progression, normally we wouldn’t trial them that close but he seems to find things easy,” Maher said.
“I just can’t thank my team enough; that was our fourth pre-Christmas, two-year-old winner for the year, so the system is working very well and I’m very thankful for them.
“This time of year, two-year-olds is what it’s all about.
“Timing wise, we thought if he could win today, we could then send him to Sydney and he would be on the right leg for the Millions, but we’ll just see how he comes through.
“There’s a big syndicate of owners, there’s a lot, there’s a lot of people in there, the horse is named after Dave Merrick, who passed away a year ago and that was his nickname.
“The Widden Stud boys, the Widden Valley will be nice and alive today and into tonight.
“They’ve got a nice horse on their hands.”
Maher was impressed mostly by the maturity…of both horse and jockey.
“He’s just professional (Unit Five); I love the way he presented and behaved himself in the yard, he was very calm behind the gates, he bounced and made Tom’s job pretty easy; or Tom made his job easy; vice versa,” he said.
“Tom had a good winner for us the other day (Warnie) and he’s starting to make a habit of it, so it’s good to be associated with him.”
Unit Five will likely be Maher’s strong second-stringer for the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast, with impressive last-start winner Tornado Valley likely to be fancied after his win in the Group 3 Maribyrnong Plate at Flemington on Cup Day.
