Monaco Consul eyes Derby treble

TRISH DUNELL

SET TO FLY: Monaco Consul has the pacifier blinkers back on for tomorrow’s $2.2 million New Zealand Derby.

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One leg down, two to go.

That's the approach Matamata brothers Paul and Michael Moroney are taking for tomorrow's $2.2 million New Zealand Derby (2400m) with dual Gr I winner Monaco Consul.

The High Chaparral three-year-old gelding has already picked up two Gr I wins this season but he will at least double that tally if the Moroney brothers get their way.

Paul Moroney yesterday revealed Monaco Consul's grand plan was to win three Derbies this season - and there was a chance the second one could be won from the front.

He has already won the A$1.5 million Victoria Derby, and tomorrow's New Zealand Derby will be the forerunner to a tilt at the Gr I A$1.3 million AJC Derby (2400m) at Randwick on April 10.

''It's a treble that's never been done before and that's been our plan the whole way through,'' Moroney said.

''One thing we know is that he won't be a spent force afterwards. He's really only just starting to find himself now in the autumn. It's all onwards and upwards.''

Monaco Consul was last night a $6 third favourite for the Gr I Ellerslie showpiece but that was a value price if Moroney's confidence was anything to go by.

A winner of three of his eight starts, Monaco Consul is the highest earner in the field with almost $1.3 million in the bank for owners Gerard Peterson and Owen Glenn.

An electric trackwork gallop at Matamata had all who saw it talking and was just the confirmation the Moroney brothers needed that their stable star was right on track.

''The horse has gone ahead leaps and bounds,'' Moroney said.
''His last three gallops on Friday here, Monday at Ellerslie and Wednesday here were very encouraging and we think the horse is right at his peak, a much improved horse from the spring, and we are going into the race with a huge amount of confidence that he's the best stayer in the race and will prove that on the day.''

Moroney said Monaco Consul's trackwork rider Reese Jones had described the Wednesday gallop as ''the equal of any he had ridden at Matamata and right up to the work he did before he left for the Spring Champion Stakes.''

Monaco Consul duly won the Spring Champion Stakes in Sydney and retained his unbeaten Australian record in the Victorian Derby but failed in his two weight-for-age starts since in the Gr I Zabeel Classic (2000m) at Ellerslie and the Gr I Darci Brahma International Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa.

Moroney said a shoulder injury prevented Monaco Consul from showing his best in the Zabeel Classic and an experimental gear change of removing the pacifier blinkers at Te Rapa hadn't worked.

The pacifier blinkers go back on for the Derby and Monaco Consul would strip a fit and happy horse for the Derby, Moroney said.

''He's a five length better horse going into this race than he was going into the spring. We believe we've got the best horse and that he will prove that on Saturday,'' Moroney said.

''You've got to like Zarzuela. She's had a good preparation for the race and hasn't done anything wrong but she might be questionable in a strongly run Derby and we'll be making sure it's a strongly run Derby.

''We've got a horse who can stay so we won't be loitering. If the pace isn't up to it, we'll be turning up the wick a long way out. We won't be frightened to lead.

''We know we don't have a worry with stamina. We've already run 2500m and the others haven't gone this trip yet.''

The Moroneys will give jockey Leith Innes free rein to ride his own race but were keen to engage him as a positive rider who has already won the Derby through leading on Wahid in 2006.

Ballymore Stable will bid for its fourth New Zealand Derby win after Great Command in 1996, Cut The Cake in 2003 and Xcellent in 2004.

Paul Moroney, who will relinquish his trainer's licence at the end of the season, was a part-owner of both Cut The Cake and Xcellent and bred Cut The Cake, and he was hoping to complete a memorable treble tomorrow.

''It's my last throw of the dice really as having my last New Zealand Derby runner as a trainer and I've owned one and bred one to date so it would be a nice note to go out on,'' he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News