Eustace farewells Sydney in a blaze of Glory

On their final day as a training partnership, Ciaron Maher and David Eustace sent just one runner to Sydney, and it was all they needed for Eustace to bow out a winner.

The British-born horseman finished his tenure alongside Maher on Saturday and will spend the next few months preparing for his move to Hong Kong, where he will train in his own right from next season.

After filly Socks Nation gave Eustace an early farewell present with her win in Melbourne, the stable’s Sydney foreman Johann Gerard-Dubord was relieved to see Glory Daze add to the celebrations with victory in Saturday’s Race A Kia Ora Bred Graduate Handicap (1600m) at Randwick.

“It’s great to have a good day today, we’ve had a winner in Melbourne already,” Gerard-Dubord said.

“That’s our only runner here today so we’ve made it a winner.”

Placed in the Irish Derby Trial as a three-year-old, Glory Daze showed promise shortly after his arrival in Australia with back-to-back wins at Sandown and Randwick last February.

He missed the spring due to minor soundness issues and connections also took the opportunity to geld him.

The five-year-old indicated he was back on track when he resumed with a narrow second to Grebeni last month, and Gerard-Dubord said the stable had deliberately spaced his first and second-up runs, knowing the horse had a strong fitness foundation thanks to their complementary facilities at Bong Bong and Bob’s Farm.

“He had been off the scene for a while but started the preparation at Bong Bong and he got a good base there,” Gerard-Dubord said.

“He spent a bit of time at the beach at Bob’s Farm and he’s got quite a bit more to come.

“That’s the good thing about having different facilities, it can keep horses like that very fit when they’re at the beach and that was the case with him.”

The stable is keen to see Glory Daze return to black-type racing and will give him another chance to work his way there this autumn.