Leading Irish stayer Voleuse De Coeurs will join the stable of Mike Moroney and run in the 2013 Melbourne Cup (3200m) after she was secured by New Zealand Bloodstock Agent Paul Moroney.
Trainer Mike Moroney believes that Voleuse De Coeurs is a live chance in the 2013 Melbourne Cup. Photo by: Taron Clarke
Voleuse De Coeurs was trained by Melbourne Cup winning trainer Dermot Weld in Ireland and he ruled out brining the mare to Australia after she recorded a dominant six lengths victory in the Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m) at Curragh on September 15.
The Teofilo mare was set to be purchased by Qatar Racing and remain under the care of Weld but the deal fell through at the last minute and Paul Moroney was able to swoop in and pull a big coup for the Moroney stable.
Mike Moroney told Racing Ahead that Voleuse De Coeurs has been on his radar for almost twelve months but admitted he was extremely fortunate to be able to secure her services.
“My brother Paul was over there last season looking for potential horses and he put her forward as the one that we should really be buying,” Moroney said.
“We looked at her form and it was only really on wet tracks at that stage; she had won twice over two miles by quiet big margins for a three-year-old filly.
“She was always on the radar but we then were close to buying Fiorente but we just missed out in the last twelve hours and we always kept an eye on her.
“When she started doing it on top of the ground we put an offer in to buy the horse which they accepted.
“We had her vetted but we were running out of time and there was a little thing on the vet report that we were dicey about so we decided to leave her.
“She of cause came out and won the Irish St Leger and of cause the price went a up lot.
“She was reportedly sold to Qatar Racing but that fell over at the last minute and because we put in the first approach they came to Paul and offered him 24 hours to find somebody to buy it.
“Luckily we found somebody, he rang David Callaghan, and between them they got the deal down with the idea that she would come to my stable and run in the Melbourne Cup.”
Moroney knows what it takes to train a Melbourne Cup winner, winning ‘the race that stops a nation’ with Brew in 2000, and is confidence that Voleuse De Coeurs can be competitive on the first Tuesday of November if she handles the lengthy trip to Australia.
“She arrives on Caulfield Cup Day and she will train around quarantine and we will get her ready for the Cup there,” Moroney said.
“I had to do it one other year with Maridpour so I have a bit of experience of doing it.
“She is a quality mare, it was a strong win in the St Leger and she has always looked like a really good stayer.
“If she travels out here well I’m pretty sure that she will be competitive.”
Moroney is hopeful that Voleuse De Coeurs can become the first horse to win the Melbourne Cup without a lead-up run in Australia since Vintage Crop in 1993 – who, ironically, was trained by Dermot Weld.
