Maher   has well and truly arrived and shown himself capable of producing top-level winners on the flat and over jumps.

Now the former Warrnambool handler, who made the move to the city a few years ago, could be on the cusp of his greatest  spring.

He landed the seventh group 1 winner of his relatively short training career on Saturday when the well-backed second favourite Bon Aurum held on under Kerrin McEvoy to land the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes by a long neck from the fast-finishing Voodoo Lad ($6), with  Fast And Rocking ($21), Whom jockey Steve Baster claimed  was desperately unlucky, the same distance away third.

A week ago at his home track he took  The Naturalism  with his mare Jameka, who could  line up as favourite in the Caulfield Cup in three weeks.

Bon Aurum began this preparation with a third  in a benchmark 78 race at Caulfield and followed up with a win at Flemington in a listed contest a fortnight ago. That Maher has been able to take him to group 1 level in such a short time speaks volumes about his conditioning ability and the improvement the son of Bon Hoffa - victorious in this  race in 2007 - has made.

"it was a great ride by Macca, he was very patient, he got him in that three-wide line where he likes to be and really brought him on," Maher said.

"This horse has taken a lot of work, We have spent a lot of time with Matthew Williams at Warrnambool who has done a great job with him. It's a testament to the environment and the beach, it's just great to get hin back and to claim a group 1 with him," Maher said, adding that the group 1 Toorak Handicap during the Caulfield Cup carnival would be his next target.

"I am in two minds whether he runs a strong mile, but this is probably the best vein of form he has been in, he is still on the way up and improving. It's a good time to test it out and see if he can," said Maher.

McEvoy, who won  his 55th group 1,  added: "It was his race to run well in with 52 on his back and his last win put the writing on the wall. Ciaron was really happy with him coming in and he has performed here on the track and trip, and gave me good confidence..

"We were able to get a good run and [favourite] Counterattack  didn't have such luck, I was able to track him into it, and had a pretty trouble-free run."