The long running saga into the bona fides of the ownership of Group 1 winning race mare Azkadellia came to a head Monday night with trainer Ciaron Maher and his former racing manager Ben Connolly issued with charges.

It is a case full of intrigue with Maher’s stable employee still listed on the Racing Australia website as the ‘owner” of the $1.58m stakes winner Azkadellia though names of convicted conman Peter Foster, his niece Arabella, a cocaine trafficker Thomas Cain, a Kiwi named Hilton Cook and a private investigator Ken Gamble all linked to the story.

Azkadellia has been sidelined by a steward’s embargo since running second  in the 2016 Tatt’s Tiara off the back of a Group 1 win in the Queen of The Turf Stake last April.

Now Racing Victoria stewards have moved to issue serious charges against both high profile trainer Maher and his former right hand man Connolly.

For Maher, there are four charges to answer around improper and dishonourable action or practice under AR 175 (a).

Stewards allege Maher knew or should have known Connolly was not the beneficial owner of not just Azkadellia but other others listed in his ownership that were Loveable Rogue, Hart, Mr Simples and Little Bubulu.

He was also charged under the conduct prejudicial to the image, interests and or welfare of racing in that he failed to take steps to notify stewards of his knowledge or suspicions about the ownership of the horse.

Connolly’s charges relate to horse ownership disclosures which the Stewards allege to be false and/or misleading and deceptive under AR 175(a) in that he was allegedly dishonest in that he made representations and provided misleading and/or inaccurate information regarding the ownership of the horses.

These charges relate to representations made by Mr Connolly and to declarations, information and/or representations provided to RV between August 2015 and April 2016 in relation to his purported ownership of Azkadellia, Hart, Loveable Rogue and Mr Simples.

Stewards across the east coast have assisted RV on the case headlined by Azkadellia.

Connolly eventually stood down from his role at Ciaron Maher Racing stood down from his role while the stewards investigated the ownership situation.

This followed wins and some $970,000 in stakes from wins in the Queen Of The Turf at Randwick on April 9 and seconds in the G1 Coolmore Classic, the G1 Doomben 10,000 and G1 Tatt’s Tiara.

The Racing Appeals And Disciplinary Board will hear the charges against Maher and Connolly soon.

But the key player here has been Foster, spotted at races where Azkadellia has been competing in Brisbane when favourite for the G1 Stradbroke Handicap.

At the time, Terry bailey’s stewards were on the case and were quoted as saying Maher had alerted them that Foster’s niece was the owner of horses in his care including the mare.

“Putting a time on it, it might have been eight or 12 months ago, though it could be longer. All the checks and balances were looked at, documents including bank records.

“We were satisfied. There was total transparency,” Bailey told The Australian newspaper at the time.

Queensland chairman of stewards Alan Reardon was also satisfied at the time into the ownership of Azkadellia – under Connolly’s name.

A long and thorough investigation has obviously unearthed further details that will be aired at the upcoming RADB hearing which will have major ramifications on the career of the high profile emerging star of the training ranks in Caulfield Cup winning trainer Maher.