Team Dynamic have been following the fortunes of the CIARON MAHER trained NAMESAKE (4yo g Maurice x Banksia) since we purchased his yearling Half-Brother at the 2025 Magic Millions.
Our Colt by ADMIRE MARS x BANKSIA 1/2 Brother to Stakes Winners BANK MAUR & NAMESAKE
On Saturday at Caulfield, NAMESAKE won again, when claiming race 9 - the Darren Gauci Handicap Bm84 (1200 METRES).
Namesake split the gap at the 150m then held off a fast-finishing pack to pick up
his second win from his past three starts,
this time defeating Dirty Grin and Chinqui to take the $71,000 first prize on a Good 4 where he ran a Time: 1:09.78.
NAMESAKE took his overall career to 19 Starts = 5:1:2 and Prizemoney: $421,350
This is the third win NAMESAKE has recorded since we purchased his half-brother in January, and he has added another $180,000 exactly to his earnings since then.
Stable foreman Jack Turnbull was asked: “What were you thinking in the closing stages?”
“He’s tough, he was there to be pinched, especially by the horse coming down the outside, but they went quick early in the first half, and we were at our top by the looks of it, but he just picked up and responded under riding, and he’s in really good form this horse.”
“He’s won a couple this prep and last start he got dictated to a bit and he was just found out, but we kept him fresh, and in the right grade, and he’s come up tops again.”
“Drawing low is a massive coup, and when you’ve got a horse like him who is in form, we don’t do a lot with him now, he’s got a lot of confidence about him.”
“He’s a Listed Winner as a 2YO and took a little while to get back so a big thanks to Richard Sckaff and Marie Sinclair they have a large portion of this horse and he’s turning into a fun galloper.”
“We will continue to keep chipping around these type of races in winter, this is his time. He’s still got a pretty good handicap, he’s been well protected, and we can keep punching through winter and we will get that prizemoney up and see where we end up.”
NAMESAKE is from the beautifully bred REDOUTE’S CHOICE mare BANKSIA and she is proving a sensation as a broodmare.
In addition to NAMESAKE winning a 2yo stakes race and having total earnings to date of $421,350, BANKSIA’S first foal is the successful racehorse BANK MAUR a 5yo gelding with a record of 29 starts = 4:3:3 and Prizemoney: $883,525.
BANK MAUR as a yearling
Trained by Bevan Laming he won the MVRC Alister Clark S., Gr.2, 2d MRC Manfred S., Gr.3, 3d MVRC Abell S., L, 4th VRC Australian Guineas, Gr.1, MRC Sandown S., Gr.3, Bel Esprit S., L.
BANK MAUR is holding nominations for the upcoming Brisbane carnival in the Spear Chief LR and the Gr1 Stradbroke.
Whilst the current 3yo filly BANK BOOK is a winner and is back in training.
Our Colt
Our COLT we purchased in January is the next (fourth foal) from BANKSIA.
BANKSIA
BANKSIA won 2 races at 1000m and importantly she is a Half-sister to Gr1 Winner and sire FOXWEDGE, Stakes Winner SHE'S A FOX, Gr2 placed Paulownia (dam of Gr3 and LR Winner Gr1 performed LILAC), She's a Wildcat (dam of LR Winner and Gr3 placed UNTAMED - SUPER BUDDY (H.K.)), and to the dams of Gr2 and LR placed Litchfield County and to 4-time Gr3 placed Foxy Cleopatra.
It's no fluke we purchased our colt; he was targeted.
Bred at Arrowfield Stud, the leading thoroughbred nursery of the Hunter Valley, what attracted us to the colt to start with was his sensational genetic rating which piqued our interest as an A+++ and a Quality 6 factor. That had the colt rated in the top 30 yearlings being offered in the catalogue.
Then the commerciality of the female family mattered. Once we saw him, we were mesmerised by his sensational looks, as he is as close to perfection as you can find in any yearling, and moved like a catwalk model.
Yearling catalogue page
He was by a sire we didn’t know a lot about, so we deep-dived into his racetrack performances and were wowed by his success.
ADMIRE MARS - Sire
ADMIRE MARS was Japan's Champion 2YO Colt, 2018 - Unbeaten in 4 starts at 2.
Then he was crowned Japan’s Co-Champion 3YO Colt, 2019.
ADMIRE MARS was a Triple Group 1-winning miler, winning the Tokyo NHK Mile Cup G1 in 1:32.4 and is the only 3YO winner of the Hong Kong International Mile Gr1 when defeating Waikuku and champion Beauty Generation in 1:33.25.
ADMIRE MARS is the Best SON of his own Champion Sire DAIWA MAJOR - Champion Sprinter & Miler in Japan in 2006 & 2007. 9 wins, 1600m to 2000m. Champion First Crop Sire 2011, Leading Japanese Sire of 2YOs in 2015.
These Admire Mars progeny “weren’t expensive horses, but they’re nice horses. They have good temperaments, placid, athletic, extremely good movers and have a really good brain on them.”
It will be no surprise that Admire Mars hits the mark in Australia. After all, he’s a three-time Group 1-winning miler, an unbeaten Champion 2YO Colt who trained on at 3 to claim the NHK Mile Cup G1 and became the first and so far, only 3YO winner of the Hong Kong Mile G1.
Admire Mars has much to offer the growing story of Japanese stallion success in our part of the world. A son of Group 1 winner & leading sire Daiwa Major (by Sunday Silence) & is from the French Group winner Via Medici.
We also had two additional pieces of information.
Firstly, our veterinarian Dr Tim Roberts had vetted BANK MAUR and NAMESAKE as yearlings for trainer Bevan Laming. He passed both colts and Bevan purchased BANK MAUR whilst Bevan was outbid upon NAMESAKE. Tim believed the ADMIRE MARS colt from BANKSIA was a far superior individual to both those colts.
Secondly, Ciaron was of the belief NAMESAKE was going “terrific” and would be winning more races and he has proven to be correct with NAMESAKE winning a further 3 races and has $180,000 more in the bank.
Ciaron was as strong on the ADMIRE MARS Colt as we were, so we joined forces to ensure we didn’t bid against one another.
As the saying goes, “buy the one you want, not the one you’re left with.”
Since then, our colt has broken-in like a Ferrari and we are very bullish about the future of our ADMIRE MARS x BANKSIA colt with Ciaron.
