How Maher Racing embraced racing data and the light-bulb moment that inspired Ciaron

SENTrack partnered up with the Ciaron Maher Racing team on Wednesday afternoon to provide a deeper understanding of how the powerhouse stable operates.

It’s no secret that the Maher team is heavily reliant on the use of sports science and data when training and preparing their horses for big race targets and it’s becoming a valuable tool for one of the best trainers in the country and arguably the world.

Ciaron Maher Racing uses a technology called Equimetre and that specific tool measures a whole range of racing elements.

The sports science team is led by Head of Data and Performance Josh Kadlec-Cavanagh and Head of Sports Science Katrina Anderson, and they joined Gareth Hall to have an in-depth chat on what goes on behind the scenes.

Anderson revealed the struggles she had trying to convince Maher that this was a necessary tool in the early days and the light-bulb moment he had that ultimately forced his hand.

“It was a challenge in itself, Ciaron wanted to bring sports science in but the reality of actually using it was the challenge,” Anderson told SENTrack.

“There were times where the data would support what he thought and there were times where it was different to what he thought.

“I was saying when I was on my way here that I remember vividly being in the tower at Caulfield in the trainers' hut and just having all these trainers just laugh at me. I guess that a lot of people are intimidated by data and that it’s going to change things.

“I think people look at it the wrong way as it’s not giving you a solid answer if you use data and data analysis properly it’s actually giving you more questions and so you're using data to question what you’re doing and within an answer, there’s another question.

“If we embrace that we continue to learn, adapt and evolve and that’s what Ciaron has done and using the sports science has challenged him.

“I remember there was one horse that he’d be running over the 1100-1200m distance and we looked at the data and we thought that this horse might actually go 1400 based on its stride length and action and it was actually the first horse that he put over further.

“She won over 1300m and you could see the cogs turning in Ciaron’s mind that there’s something in this.

“It was the first time where he actually used data and made a decision based off that.”

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