Racing: Clean Sweep's latest ruckus settled

Paul Moroney's heart skipped a beat when he logged on to a racing news web site in Sydney this week.

It was there that he learned he had supposedly lost his Telegraph Handicap rider for Ballymore's star sprinter Clean Sweep.

The stable spokesman was adamant he had booked Lisa Cropp for the Trentham ride on January 3.

But the report claimed Cropp was aboard Shastri instead, sparking a debate that was settled in Moroney's favour by an official inquiry at Te Rapa on Wednesday.

Officials found that Cropp's agent, Lenny Goord, had taken the mount without the knowledge, or consent of the rider.

Cropp said she was always committed to Clean Sweep and had no intention of riding Shastri.

Moroney didn't attend the inquiry, but presented conclusive email evidence to support the long-standing arrangement with Cropp.

"As far as I'm concerned it's all very clear-cut and any mix-up is through no fault of Ballymore, the owners or me," said Moroney.

Shastri's trainer John Sargeant has now booked Australian rider Anthony Cavallo as a Telegraph replacement.

Cavallo rode a stack of winners for Sargeant during his stint training in Asia.

Everywhere she goes lately Clean Sweep seems to cause a fuss.

She upset the colts and geldings to win the 2000 Guineas in November, was a controversial relegation to the Railway ballot, then was a shock last-start failure at Thames.

Moroney, however, is confident she will be back in the headlines tomorrow for all the right reasons.

"I think she's a fantastic chance in the Telegraph and I'm not perturbed by Thames at all," he said.

"She got bottled up and somewhere in there they ran a 14 second furlong which is only slightly quicker than three-quarter pace. They rode to get her beaten and she has come on in leaps and bounds with the run."

Moroney is convinced that Clean Sweep was too pretty at Thames.

His brother Michael and co-trainer Andrew Scott had her tuned up to win the Railway and when they missed that race, she thrived a little too much.

Rest assured, she'll be a much fitter horse at Trentham and she drops 4.5kg in the weights.

Moroney now hopes stablemate Blue Tsunami, a horse he co-owns, gets the scratching he needs to make the Telegraph field tomorrow.

"This time next year he won't be on 50kg in the group ones," he said. "If he had two good front feet he would be the leading sprinter in New Zealand."