Horse racing was entrenched in Wodonga trainer Peter Maher from the moment he was born.

His great grandfather, Irish immigrant Sylvester Byrnes, owned, raced and bred horses in the Mildura region.

Peter’s father Jack learnt the trade and from his farm at Ebden, Jack continued the strong involvement in horse racing.

It was here that Peter’s strong connection to the local racing community began to blossom.

The red and green silks of Peter Maher-trained horses, including two of his most successful gallopers Atlantic Comet and Green Pick, were originally the stable colours of his great grandfather.

As a child, Peter was taken to city and country race meetings by both parents, where he watched horses in those colours perform great deeds on the racetrack.

Along with his older brother Terry, Peter honed his training skills by observing and learning from his father.

While helping Terry, Peter experienced the excitement of a metropolitan win with Golden Aura. This hooked him into the industry.

Peter obtained his trainer’s license in 1983 and with gelding Celestial Law, he emulated the feat of his brother by notching his first win at Moonee Valley.

One of Peter’s earlier successes was with Atlantic Comet, a winner of the Wodonga Cup in 1995. Before that, Atlantic Comet won the Jack Maher 2yo Classic, a race conducted at his hometrack of Wodonga and named in honour of his father who was a former president of the Club.

Peter considers Green Pick his finest horse. Green Pick won the Wodonga Cup in successive years (2003 and 2004, ridden by Brad Rawiller).

A consistent galloper, Green Pick achieved five metropolitan race wins in his career including the Crown Trophy at Moonee Valley on two occasions.

Green Pick was admired by Peter. “He was a horse who literally stuck his neck out in determination to win.”

His latest stable star has been In the Shadows, who has also won five metropolitan races including the Maher’s favourite metropolitan playground, Moonee Valley.

Any trainer understands the element of uncertainty in this industry and for Peter, he now faces the uncertainty of educating, training and racing several two-year-olds.