A lot has changed for Mike Moroney since he won the Thousand Guineas, but some things haven’t.
The New Zealander first landed the Group One event for the fillies in 1999 with Shizu (NZ) (Manntari), not long after he’d taken over the famous Chiquita Lodge stables at Flemington.
“She started off in New Zealand and then came across here and so she won the Thousand Guineas that year,” Moroney reflected.
“It would be nice to repeat the dose, it’s going to be 24 years between drinks, but it will be well worth waiting for.”
Since then, Moroney has tasted the ultimate success by winning the 2000 Melbourne Cup with Brew (NZ) (Sir Tristram) and entrenched himself as one of the leading trainers in Melbourne, capturing major races in that time with the likes of Sarrera (Quest for Fame), Mr Baritone (NZ) (Stravinsky), Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park) and Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ) (Per Incanto.
Once again though, it’s a filly from across the Tasman who Moroney will saddle up in the Thousand Guineas: Coeur Volante (NZ) (Proisir).
The daughter of Proisir was bought by Moroney’s brother Paul as a yearling from Karaka in 2022 using video evidence only, due to the COVID-related restrictions at the time and was initially looked after by Moroney’s training partner in New Zealand, Pam Gerard.
“We paid $90,000 for her with the idea that we’d start her off in New Zealand and if she was good enough, we’d get her here, which we do with most of the ones we buy there,” Moroney explained.
“Once I saw her have her first trial, I said to Pam then, ‘Just give her one more trial and just ride her back off them and then we’d take her across’.
“We did that and she stormed home down the outside at Taupo, which is hard to do and ran second under a pretty light ride. That was enough just to finalise that she was the right one to bring over here.”
Coeur Volante made her debut earlier this year in May and finished fourth before going on to win her next three starts.
“She was pretty luckless in her first start, I think if things had gone her way, she would have won it and then of course, from then on, she’s been unbeaten,” Moroney said.
“She brings really good form into the race.”
Coeur Volante will go into Saturday’s 1600-metre event as the $4 second favourite with Sportsbet and Moroney is optimistic about what she could achieve beyond this weekend.
“She’s very talented, she could be one of the better ones I’ve trained, I think, as far as the females go and I’ve been lucky enough to have a few good ones,” he said.
“On what she’s done and how untapped she is, I’m pretty sure she’s a good chance of being up there with them.”
