Racing: Brothers debate breaking up a winning team

It's not a given Michael Coleman will ride Xcellent in the Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 1.

Paul Moroney said at the weekend, after the pair had won the Mudgway Fair Tax Stakes at Hastings, that there had been serious discussion about who should ride the rapidly rising star in Australia.

"Brother Mike [Moroney] has expressed the opinion in the last few weeks that perhaps we should be giving serious thought to putting a top Australian jockey on him.

"Obviously I'm in Michael's camp and I'll be pushing the case," said Paul Moroney.

Coleman copped a bagging from the Australian press for his ride on the Moroney-trained Second Coming when finishing third behind his winning stablemate Brew in the 2000 Melbourne Cup.

To those who didn't know the background Coleman appeared to make his run too soon on Second Coming, who had missed vital work going into the race and who faded noticeably in the closing 200m after looking likely to win at the 350m.

"That was unfair," said Paul Moroney.

"I've no doubt if Second Coming hadn't missed six days work going into the Cup he'd have beaten Brew."

Coleman came in for another Aussie media roast when Xcellent, in his only Australian start, finished down the track in the AJC Derby on a hopelessly unsuitable bog surface at Easter.

"The Mudgway proved Michael knows the horse intimately," said Paul Moroney. "That's going to be a big issue when he gets to Australia."

Moroney said once the $1 million Kelt Capital at Hastings (October 1) is out of the way, Xcellent will target the $3 million Cox Plate.

"We know everyone says the Caulfield Cup is the only Melbourne Cup lead-up, but it's only two weeks after the Kelt and the Cox Plate fits in with our plans much better."

New Zealand racing owes a big debt of thanks to Hawkes Bay's Sam Kelt for playing his part in keeping a horse like Xcellent racing in New Zealand.

Kelt has been the driving force behind getting his sponsored race to a million dollars and announced at the weekend his determination to take the race to $2 million in 2007.

Without the $1 million this year Xcellent may well be racing in Australia already and who would have wanted to miss Saturday's remarkable performance?

At $2 million the Kelt could make the difference between selling a couple of classy young colts to Hong Kong or keeping them racing domestically.