The career of champion jumper Stern Idol is set to draw to a close after one more start at Sandown.
Stern Idol will chase a fourth success in the Crisp Steeplechase (4200m) next Sunday before enjoying retirement.
Ciaron Maher was full of praise for the nine-year-old he described as possibly the best jumper to have gone through his stable in more than 20 years of training.
“Bashboy won three Nationals, which is hard to do at a handicap level, but this horse is quicker, (and) is quite possibly the best jumper I’ve ever had, but it’s hard to quantify eras,” Maher said.
“There was also Al Garhood and Regina Coeli (both Grand Annual winners), they were rippers and Regina Coeli has produced a horse called Melek, who is by St Jean, and I did have quite a few enquiries after he won his maiden here on debut.”
Bred in Ireland to be a Melbourne Cup horse, Stern Idol did his early racing in France before being brought out to Australia to join the Maher stable with a jumps career in mind.
Stern Idol now has 18 wins from 43 starts and just shy of $1.1 million in prize money.
Maher said retirement looms for the gelding he described as the biggest horse to have been through his stable was due to the lack of suitable races.
He said it would be sad to see him retire as Stern Idol had not been overly raced.
“He doesn’t race that much,” Maher said.
“A lot of jumpers have half-a-dozen runs before they get to a hurdle race. He has one 3000-metre on the flat every prep and he’s very competitive.
“He ran the other day on the flat because we missed a run (at Hamilton).
“There’s no reason why he couldn’t race on, but there’s only a couple of races a year that he can run in.
“He won the Brierly this year with 75 (kilos), so he’s going to get more next year, the Grand Annual is too far, so there’s only the set-weight races he can in, and the Crisp is the next one which he will run in.
“He’s just a beautiful horse. He’s lived at Ballarat his whole life, they know him, they love him, they understand him very well, but he’s a little bit quirky.
“He’s got a lot of sass for a big steeplechaser. He wears earmuffs, he gets around always on the job, and you wouldn’t know he’s a nine-year-old.
“He’s just a cracking horse.”
