Ciaron Maher was a man on a mission when attending the Inglis May Sales, he was there to buy a horse, just one horse, his mind was made up and nothing was going to sway his judgement.

He was there to buy the rising seven year old entire, Marksmanship, among the lots being offered as part of the Lloyd Williams annual dispersal sale.

This was the horse he wanted, some said he had paid enough at $120,000 for a horse that had just won the one race, and was by Galileo, he was not the success as many had anticipated by so many Epsom Derby winners that have failed in the Southern Hemisphere.

That didn’t bother Ciaron, he was fully satisfied, he had what he went for, a horse ready to race within a couple of weeks.

Three runs , and three wins later , it does not get any better than that, Ciaron cast the element of risk aside, he was backing his judgement, as he always does, it hasn’t let down before and nothing has changed

Marksmanship was finally sold for $120,000, he has since shown a return of $130,500, this is just the beginning, he is as sound as a bell, no plans have been mentioned for him at the moment but a bit of homework will soon sort that out.

He was ridden a treat by Michelle Payne, she is a great judge of pace, when the challenges were thrown out in the straight; it was a cool head and soft hands that prevailed. 

Marksmanship on the inside winning the Banjo Paterson