KEY POINTS:
Just about everything has fallen into place for Mike and Paul Moroney.
If Mission Critical can get home in tomorrow's A$500,000 ($622,000) Queensland Derby the brothers Moroney will tear Brisbane apart with their celebrations.
Mike celebrates his 50th birthday today and Paul chalks up birthday number 48 on Sunday.
The combined party is being held in Brisbane tomorrow night and the brothers hope the Derby trophy will be on the restaurant table to make it a triple celebration.
The Derby bid looked to be on track when Mission Critical scored a brave, narrow win over Moatize in the Rough Habit Plate two weeks ago.
Then it derailed slightly when winning rider Damien Oliver copped a lengthy suspension on the same day.
It got back on track again when Oliver appealed and had the sentence reduced with a payment of A$20,000.
Even the barrier draw of No 19 of the 20 runners is seen as a plus by the brothers Moroney.
The only question mark remaining is how the Eagle Farm track will play tomorrow after being drenched by around 200mls of rain in the past seven days. Mission Critical needs good footing to produce his best.
Paul Moroney, who is due to fly to Brisbane today, spoke to his brother yesterday morning.
"The course proper at Eagle Farm was closed to galloping on Tuesday morning because of the conditions and Mike got together with John Wheeler and Mission Critical and John's Derby runner Petushki had their final gallop yesterday morning. "Mike said the footing was slightly better than slow," he said.
"The weather forecast is for fine weather into the weekend which means the track should get back to dead and, hopefully, a good dead."
Mission Critical turned on an impressive display of stamina in the Rough Habit Plate, encouraging the Moroneys that they had the right horse to see out the tough 2400m of the Derby.
Mission Critical led at the 300m and was headed by Moatize inside the final 100m and looked certain to finish second.
Blinkers obscured the image of Moatize and once the other horse drew alongside and into view, Mission Critical fought back strongly and thrust his head in front in the final stride.
The Wednesday morning gallop confirmed the horse had progressed through that race well. "Mike said he thought it was one of the best pieces of work on the morning.
"He said Mission Critical had the measure of Petushki, which would be good work because John (Wheeler) feels his horse is right among the Derby chances after a strong effort in the Grand Prix."
While the connections of most runners would be aghast at drawing barrier No 19, the Moroneys are happy to be out wide.
"He's going to go forward and it's better to draw wide when you're going to do that.
"He'll come across and hopefully be able to slot in somewhere fourth or fifth on the outside.
"There are a lot of horses in this race that probably aren't up to it and you don't want to be back in the field and have them coming back into your lap around the 500m.
"There will be no problems with Mission Critical getting the 2400m, but there will be question marks over some of the others.
"We'll be going forward reasonably early to put the pressure on and make it a staying race - there's no way we'll let it turn into a jog and a sprint."
Moatize and Mission Critical dominate the Derby betting.
Most Australian bookmakers have got the Bart Cummings-trained Moatize at $3.20 and Mission Critical at $4.20. The filly Riva Sand is third favourite on a $9 quote, ahead of Petushki at $11.
Vinny Colgan will ride the Rotorua-trained Mynewbestfriend who continued his shocking run of barrier draws in his Australian campaign with the 15 gate, while former South Auckland filly Rathsallagh starts from 12.
The forecast is for rain arriving on Sunday, which would disappoint the Moroneys - they have Captain Fantastic engaged in the A$500,000 T J Smith at Eagle Farm on Monday.
He is at his best on decent footing and faces only four rivals in the group one 2-year-old event. "He could trot around and still pick up a A$10,000 cheque," says Paul Moroney.
DERBY DAY
* Mission Critical is looking for a reasonable track for the big classic.
* Brisbane has been hit by 200mls of rain in the past week and Eagle Farm is still drying out from the drenching.
* The Mission Critical camp is hoping the footing will come back to dead.
* Moatize, who Mission Critical beat last start, is the narrow favourite over the New Zealander.
