ONE man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
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Godolphin parted ways with the imported galloper Big Blue, an out-of-form stayer after an unplaced run in the Ballarat Cup in November.
Enter Warrnambool born Ciaron Maher.
He saw something in the lightly raced seven-year-old, which resulted in hurdle wins at Ballarat and Casterton in August and September before Big Blue won the $500,000 St Leger Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
Big Blue, who was originally trained in France by Andrew Fabre before being transferred to Godolphin in Australia beat, One Foot In Heaven by 1-1/4 lengths with Red Cardinal in third spot.
Maher, who trains in partnership with David Eustace, said Big Blue was rock hard fit to win the St Leger on a very heavy track.
“It’s been a month since his last run at Casterton over the hurdles,” Maher said.
“We’ve just done lots of long slow work with Big Blue to have him fit and ready for the St Leger.
“He loves the wet tracks. I knew he would appreciate the heavy ground. I’ll wait a few days before working out another race for him but a start in the Sandown Cup in November may be an option.”
From his 24 starts Big Blue has won seven races and earnt more than $615,000 in stakemoney for his connections.
Big Blue’s win is the third Sydney Saturday victory for the Maher-Eustace combination in the last three weeks. Dubious and Yulong January are the other winners.
