WINSLOW training export Ciaron Maher took time out to acknowledge his younger brother Declan after Hitotsu won the $1 million group one Australian Guineas at Flemington on Saturday.
Hitotsu beat Lightsaber by a long neck in the 1600 metre race. The victory gave Maher, who trains in partnership with David Eustace their second group one victory in a week following on from the win of Marabi in the Oakleigh Plate at Caulfield.
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Maher said Hitotsu had been trained from his Ballarat stable for the group one classic.
"Declan and the team at Ballarat have done a sensational job with Hitotsu," he said. "It's a tremendous effort to win a group one race over 1600 metres - first-up and that's what Dec and the team did with Hitotsu. I'm not sure which path we'll go down with Hitotsu for his next start.
"We'll let the dust settle for a day or two before making up our minds. We do know Hitotsu is a dry track horse and that makes his win in the Australian Guineas even better because there was a bit of give in the track."
Hitotsu has won three of his seven starts and won more than $1.8 million in stake-money.
Yonce took her record to five wins from five starts when she won a restricted race for the Maher-Eustace training combination on Saturday. Maher revealed Yonce is also trained at his Ballarat stable.
"Once again we've got to give the credit to Dec and the team at Ballarat," he said. "We've just kept on lifting the bar with Yonce and she's kept on delivering. The way she finished off the 1600 metres on Saturday, it suggests she's going to get over a lot more ground which opens up plenty of options for Yonce in the future."
Hitotsu and Yonce were both ridden by Irish born jockey John Allen.
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