The curtain has come down on the decorated career of Callsign Mav following his sixth placed run in last Saturday's Group 1 Otaki-Maori Classic (1600m).
Purchased as a weanling out of Windsor Park Stud's 2017 National Weanling, Broodmate, & Mixed Bloodstock Sale for $3,000, he belied his initial purchase price when going on to win eight and place in 12 of his 38 career starts on both sides of the Tasman, accruing more than $1.6 million in prizemoney.
The son of Atlante showed plenty of promise from the outset for trainer and part-owner John Bary, winning on debut as a juvenile over 800m at Hastings. At just his fourth start he finished runner-up in the Group 2 Hawke's Bay Guineas (1600m) behind boom three-year-old Catalyst.
The following season he caused a major upset when taking out the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) first-up as a four-year-old, paying a winning dividend of +8100. He went on to show that victory was no fluke, placing in the Group 1 Windsor Park Plate (1600m) behind glamour mares Melody Belle and Avantage a fortnight later.
He continued a memorable four-year-old term when runner-up in the Group 1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m), Group 1 Otaki WFA Classic (1600m) and Group 2 Manawatu Challenge Stakes (1400m), and was third in the Group 2 Awapuni Gold Cup (2000m).
Callsign Mav returned in dominant fashions as a five-year-old, winning the Tarzino Trophy and Windsor Park Plate, before crossing the Tasman where he ran seventh in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m).
He subsequently joined Danny O'Brien's Victorian barn and continued on an upward trajectory, finishing runner-up first-up for his new trainer in the Group 3 Carlyon Cup (1600m). He returned in the spring of 2022 to post his first elite-level victory in Australia in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield and was runner-up in the Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m).
Having met his mark in Australia, he returned to Bary's care last spring where he placed in the Group 1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) at Hastings and posted the same result in the Group 1 BCD Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa earlier this month.
Following his run in the Otaki WFA, the decision was made by Bary, in consultation with his ownership group, to retire the well-performed seven-year-old from racing.
“Mav's career has been one of the highlights of my training career and he bows out gracefully from the racing world,” Bary said.
“Along with his fantastic Australian owners, he will forever be a stable champion, whose determination, heart and spirit inspired those who had the privilege to witness his feats on the turf.”