Declan Maher seeds begin to grow from Gold Coast base

By Glenn Davis

It didn’t take long for trainer Declan Maher to strike paydirt with his first Queensland winner from his new Gold Coast base last month.

Declan, the younger sibling of champion trainer Ciaron Maher, made the move to Queensland two months ago to relaunch his own training career after a long stint as stable foreman at his brother’s Ballarat stables in Victoria.

Declan was in charge of over 200 horses at Ballarat and didn’t have the time to train himself despite holding his own trainer’s licence since 2016.

Declan has a young family and decided it was the right time to branch out on his own and moved to the Gold Coast where he has 20 boxes.

Declan claimed his first winner in Queensland with only his fifth starter when War Drama was successful in a Benchmark race at the Sunshine Coast on July 20.

“It didn’t take long to win my first race here,” Declan said.

“We’ve got 11 horses in the barn so far and there’s more coming soon.

“We’re slowly building and getting a good handle on the tracks up this way.”

Declan now heads to Ipswich on Wednesday hopeful of claiming his first metropolitan winner from his Gold Coast stable with Perhaps Perhaps in the Maiden Handicap over 1680 metres.

A five-year-old daughter of Written Tycoon, Perhaps Perhaps had her first start for Declan after transferring from trainer Marc Quinn when she finished third in a 1400 metre Maiden Handicap at the Sunshine Coast on August 3.

“She ran a nice race first-up and we’re just starting to get to know her a bit more,” Declan said.

“She was in a front a few strides past the winning post.

“I trained her half-sister in Melbourne when I was with Ciaron, so I changed a few things around with her when she first came to me.

“I put a tongue-tie on and a cross over nose band to help her breathing.

“It looks a very suitable race for her and Damien Thornton is staying on."

Declan also had nominated Khor for the Class 5 Handicap on Wednesday at Ipswich but elected to run the six-year-old at Grafton last Saturday when he ran fourth in a 2200 metre Class 6 Showcase event.