Matamata horse trainer Michael Moroney won more than 50 Group 1 races but will always be remembered for just one of those, the 2000 Melbourne Cup with Brew. Moroney had, literally, dreamed three years before that he would win the cup with the horse — although he was not even in his stable at the time. Once he did get hold of Brew, the horse fulfilled his part of a Moroney master plan by qualifying for the Cup by winning the Saab Quality three days beforehand. In the Cup with the featherweight of 49kg, Brew second-rated his rivals for Moroney’s biggest day in racing. Mike Moroney was born into racing, his parents and grandparents all being involved in the sport. After serving as foreman and then co-trainer to leading trainers Dave and Paul O’Sullivan, Moroney struck out on his own in the early ’80s as a 22-year-old, and snared his first elite level group 1 win in 1985. Moroney’s Ballymore Stables soon became a force to be reckoned with and he twice won the New Zealand training premiership. He moved from Matamata to Adelaide in the mid-1990s before establishing stables in Melbourne. Top horses trained by Moroney included Second Coming (third in Brew’s Melbourne Cup and VRC Derby winner, Xcellent (who won the NZ Derby in just his third start), Tofane and Roch ‘n Horse. Mike Moroney, a New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame inductee, died on February 27 aged 66. — APL/Agencies
