Rowe On Monday – Moroney’s toast to brother Mike with 2000 Guineas quinella and gatecrasher colour change for Tornado Valley

All Group 1s are special, but Romanoff’s New Zealand 2000 Guineas victory carried extra significance for Paul Moroney.

Not only was Romanoff the Kiwi agent’s 40th individual elite-level winner, but the three-year-old was trained by Pam Gerard, Moroney’s late brother Mike’s long-time New Zealand training partner.

And Paul Moroney was able to savour the moment with his mother Mary, watching the action unfold from a rain-soaked Riccarton on TV from the family’s Matamata home.

“It was exciting, it really was, and it was great for a whole lot of reasons. It was just great to see Pam kick on and get another Group 1 and to actually get the quinella,” Moroney told this column. 

“It was the 40th individual Group 1 winner that I’ve selected and I’ve been sitting on that since spring 2022 (when Dark Destroyer won the Tarzino Trophy). I’ve had about four Group 1 placings since then, three seconds and a third.

“So, I was starting to wonder when this is going to happen because it’s a mark I was hoping to achieve. Getting there was a big kick.”

Romanoff, a gelding by former Haunui Farm shuttler Belardo, was a $75,000 purchase by Moroney, business partner Catheryne Bruggeman and Ballymore Stables at the 2024 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale.

The runner-up, stablemate Affirmative Action, was a $115,000 buy from the same sale. He is by another off-the-radar stallion in Yes Yes Yes, a sire who has his fans but whose commercial appeal has depreciated in recent seasons. Similar can be said for Belardo.

‘Every stallion has its champion’

Moroney admits to being more forgiving of stallions than many of his peers.

“And the reason for that is because my father told me many, many years ago, when I was a very young person and we started going to yearling sales, that every stallion has its champion and it’s normally a freak,” he said. 

“The day you stop looking at stallions because you don’t think they’re up to standard is when they will leave their best horse and you would never have looked at it. 

“So, you’re taking yourself out of the equation of ever having selected it, owned it and had clients to race it and get that thrill of racing a very good horse.

“Over the years, a number of my best horses have been by nondescript stallions. Group 1 winner Smashing Pumpkin, who won a Group 1 in Hong Kong, was by a stallion called Bold Citadel.

“I think he might have been the only stakes winner he ever had and Shizu was by Manntari and he was a complete flop and she won a Thousand Guineas … and Second Coming was by Oak Ridge.

“And when we bought Xcellent, Pentire was unpopular and he was probably the horse that came along and made Pentire at the time. By having that system in place that we look at everything, we are opening ourselves up to finding those gems in the rough.

“We don’t get it right all the time, but when we do find those cracking types, they stand out as athletes. A lot of those are the ones that are coming through and competing at the highest level.”

Romanoff was bred by Marie Leicester, the woman who bred champion mare Melody Belle, and the connection doesn’t end there. Romanoff is out of the stakes-placed Tsarina Belle, a half-sister to Meleka Belle, the dam of Te Akau Racing’s Melody Belle.

Mike much missed

For Moroney, this year’s Melbourne Cup carnival – 25 years since his elder brother trained Brew to win Australia’s iconic race – marked the first spring without his beloved sibling Mike, who died in February.

Thus, for the first three days of Flemington, he chose to stay at home in Melbourne with his daughter Melissa.

But European import Whisky On The Hill, despite the atrocious weather conditions on Champions Day, did entice Moroney to Flemington where he witnessed the son of Ribchester win the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes for Glen Thompson, Mike’s Moroney’s Australian training partner. 

“Grieving Mike, honestly, I still don’t think it completely hit me. It did a bit over the carnival, being the first year without Mike, and it also was the 25th anniversary of Brew winning the Melbourne Cup,” he said.

“I kept to myself a bit over the Cup carnival and I actually only went racing on the final day and was glad I did because we had a great win with Whisky On The Hill.

“And my sister and brother-in-law own 20 per cent of him and my daughter came over for the week and we hung out together and watched racing and just kept it pretty tight and private.

“The big brother, he’s no longer with us and there’s a sadness to it, but there’s also a lot of resolve to keep going and have success and keep the Moroney name out there.”

Mike Moroney died in February after a battle with cancer.

Change of colours for Tornado Valley

Last-start Maribyrnong Plate-winning colt Tornado Valley will have new colours next time two-year-old steps out.

The Ciaron Maher-trained son of Too Darn Hot is owned by prominent syndicator Bennett Racing, but his breeder Rosemont Stud has retained a significant percentage of the colt, potentially a wise decision given the horse’s early promise.

To combine the two entities, which both have strong links to Victoria’s surf coast near Geelong, it has been agreed that a new set of silks will be designed to acknowledge Rosemont Stud, who sold the colt for $300,000 at the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in January.

“That was terrific to breed the Maribynong Plate winner and we still own a quarter of him, so he’s set for a little subtle colour change,” Rosemont principal Anthony Mithen said.

“Nathan (Bennett) and I thought it’d be a good idea to get our gatecrasher logo on the front and back of his colours, so that that’ll be an addition next start.

“It’s just a little doff to the hat to the owner and breeder, so that’s nice. He’s a very exciting young horse as I think he’d be better out over further, too.

“We sort of sold him on the premise that we thought he’d be a late two-year-old and a three-year-old … that’s what he sort of looked like, and that’s what his pedigree probably suggests he’ll be. 

“To be up and about this early in his career, he’s obviously got talent.”

Tornado Valley, who is out of the Queensland Oaks-placed mare Oklahoma Girl, has a yearling half-brother by Pinatubo who Rosemont Stud will offer at the Magic Millions in January.