Trainer Ciaron Maher is set to take his second chance at a Royal Ascot victory – but with a horse that is yet to step foot in either the UK or Australia.
Zhang Yuesheng’s Yulong Investments confirmed to Idol Horse that the burgeoning operation had purchased America’s top turf miler Carl Spackler. He will target the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot in Maher’s name before heading to Australia for a spring campaign.
“I feel very privileged and honoured to be given the opportunity to train a horse of this calibre for Mr Zhang and Yulong,” Maher told Idol Horse. “Myself and the team are incredibly excited to race a genuine world-class horse and a three-time Group 1 winner on the world’s biggest stage and represent Australian racing in the Queen Anne Stakes.”
While there are plenty of options for Carl Spackler at a mile in Australia, including the G1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Randwick in October and the G1 VRC Champions Mile (1600m) at Flemington in November, he could be stretched out in trip to tackle the final G1 Cox Plate (2040m) around the traditional Moonee Valley circuit.
However, Yulong already has a strong Cox Plate hand that includes defending champion Via Sistina, top three-year-old filly Treasurethe Moment and North American Grade 1 winners Moira and Full Count Felicia – although Maher confirmed that the Cox Plate is the current intention.
“We’re equally as excited to have him travel to Australia after Ascot with the Cox Plate as the ultimate target, where we hope to continue Yulong’s success in the race,” he said.
Before that campaign, he will target the Queen Anne Stakes, the annual Royal Ascot curtain-raiser over the straight mile. Should he run, he will become the first Australian-trained runner in the race; Australian colt Haradasun, who won in 2008, was prepared by Irish maestro Aidan O’Brien for his Ascot tilt.
“International success is something that eludes us and the whole world seems to become that little bit smaller all the time,” Maher said. “Whether that’s just a mindset, I don’t know, but a lot of the time it is. We have a number of horses in work in Newmarket, whether it’s in partnership with a trainer there or other arrangements. It’s always tough to do, but it’s interesting – maybe one day we could have a satellite base there.”
The stable has had one Royal Ascot runner: Group 1-winning sprinter Coolangatta finished 11th in the 2023 G1 King’s Stand Stakes for Maher and his former training partner David Eustace.
A winner of eight of his 12 starts and almost USD$2 million for trainer Chad Brown, Carl Spackler has won three Grade 1 races at a mile at his last four starts: the Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga as well as the Coolmore Turf Mile and the Maker’s Mark Mile, both at Keeneland.
His only defeat since last July came in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar when sixth to More Than Looks, who will shuttle to Australia to join Yulong’s stallion roster later this year.
“We’ve had a lot of fun with him but it is a business,” Carl Spackler’s original owner Bob Edwards told Daily Racing Form’s David Grening. “We’ve had a lot of luck with him, but we’re not sure how commercially he’d be received (as a stallion prospect) in the States. The timing worked out.”
Edwards named Carl Spackler for the groundskeeper, played by Bill Murray, in the 1980 movie Caddyshack.
Carl Spackler was not among initial entries taken for the Queen Anne Stakes at the end of April and so his new connections will have to pay a £53,000 supplementary fee by June 11. ∎
