More Victorian success for Al Maher

MARCH 4, 2010: The stock of Al Maher continue to impress on Victorian racetracks with the latest meeting staged on the Sandown-Hillside course witnessing another notable success from a member of the stallion’s first 3-year-old crop.

In a highly competitive 1300-metre event on the card, the beautifully-bred Amaethon came out on top after racing on a hot pace throughout the early stages and battling on gamely close to the line to score by a half-length.

Amaethon has now won two races — on both occasions ridden by Damien Oliver — and is held in high regard by his co-trainers, Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra. The gelding’s winning time of 1m17.04s, coming home the final 600 metres in a slashing 33.97s, confirmed their opinion of the lightly-raced 3-year-old.

Bred by Contract Racing and raced in their colours, Amaethon is a half-brother to the previous weekend’s Listed MRC Chairman’s Stakes (1100m) winner Crystal Lily. Their dam, Crystal Snip (by Snippets), also produced the Listed stakes winner Crystal Wit, and is a half-sister to the Listed stakes winners Crystal Hawk and Crystal Finale.