With Australia’s largest stable preparing for racing’s premier week, Ciaron Maher might find himself too occupied to pick up a Tattslotto ticket this week.
However, he does hold a stake in a different kind of lottery, one that came with a significantly higher price tag than a standard quickpick.
Maher is targeting the race of a lifetime with the exciting colt, The Next Episode, in the $2 million Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington this Saturday.
This 1200-metre contest, while not the primary three-year-old race on the Derby Day card, holds paramount importance from a breeding perspective. The son of Snitzel stands to be valued in the tens of millions should he clinch victory.
Maher invested $2.8 million in The Next Episode at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. He acknowledges the inherent stress in managing the career of such a valuable horse, but it’s precisely the type of pressure he sought when bidding.
“It’s pressure that you want to have,” he stated. “Every person that goes to a yearling sale, every person that breeds a colt, they’re your Tattslotto tickets. That’s what the industry is geared around. You want to have these horses and you want to be performing in this race. You want to win Tattslotto.”
Maher was tasked with finding a suitable colt for prominent English owner Phil Cunningham at the Gold Coast in January last year, and he identified The Next Episode, whose dam is the Denman mare Humma Humma.
He set a record as the most expensive colt ever sold at Magic Millions and is the second highest-priced yearling in the company’s history, surpassed only by a filly by Home Affairs out of Sunlight, which sold for $3.2 million later that same sale.
Cunningham, whose horses in the UK compete under the Rebel Racing banner and are named after his favourite songs, purchased a substantial share of The Next Episode, with Maher undertaking the responsibility of selling the remainder.
Maher admits that the colt proved somewhat more challenging to place than he initially hoped, but he indicated that his drive to sell diminished as he increased The Next Episode’s training workload.
“He started to show a little bit of ability and there was a piece there, so I thought I’d take the punt,” Maher said. “I’d be happy if I got left with more now.”
The Next Episode solidified his claims as the horse to beat in the Coolmore Stud Stakes with a victory in the Group 2 Danehill Stakes (1100m) at Flemington on October 3, which has been his sole start as a three-year-old.
He finished unplaced on debut in the $1 million Golden Gift at Rosehill just shy of 12 months ago, but was then given a break. He had three other starts at two, including the $1 million Magic Millions National Classic (1000m) in May.
Once Maher realised that The Next Episode would not be aimed at the Golden Slipper, all subsequent planning was focused on the Coolmore Stud Stakes.
“That’s been his goal,” he commented. “I raced him into the winter and took him to Queensland with a view to going fresh into this race. He had a look down the straight (in the Danehill) and he ticked that box, he’s had a month between (runs), which I love, and a little tick over trial here the other morning was lovely, just to give him another look down the straight. He should be pretty close to right at his best.”
The Next Episode is the current favourite in the Coolmore betting, ahead of St Gotthard, another high-priced Snitzel colt who was a $2.7 million Inglis Easter Yearling Sale purchase and is a brother to the 2024 Coolmore Stud Stakes victor, Switzerland. The fillies Satono Glow, Natural Fling, and Pembrey are next in line.
Mark Zahra is scheduled to ride The Next Episode, aiming for his third win in the race, having previously succeeded with Merchant Navy in 2017 and Tentyris last year.
Check out the latest racing odds for the 2026 Coolmore Stud Stakes with online bookmakers.
