The evergreen jockey will be calling on all the ability expected of "The King" to give Sound Proposition every chance.
So about that regal nickname?
"Leith [Innes] started it," he said. "I won a race and came back in and said 'ring-a-ding-ding, Mickey's the King', and it has stuck. I use it as propaganda now - if you say it enough then people will believe it."
It probably wasn't the title Coleman had in mind when he got his start in the mid-80s. Apprenticed to Jim Gibbs at a time when the master trainer had a plethora of talent in his stable, Coleman didn't set the world on fire initially. However, his talent didn't remain under a bushel for long.
"The first year was pretty quiet - I won 13 races, but then I won the apprenticeship the next two years," he recalled. "I only spent three years as an apprentice and was out of my time at 19."
In those early years, Coleman was closely associated with the 1987 Horse of the Year Tidal Light, who won 10 races as a 3-year-old. Coleman was on board for seven of those. His first group one win though, came via another stable star, Field Dancer in the 1987 ARC New Zealand Stakes.
"Gibbsy had all those good horses then, the likes of Maurine, Sounds Like Fun and the rest of them," he said.
Over the years, Coleman has amassed 37 group one wins and, nearly two decades after being associated with his first Horse of the Year he became the regular rider for another. Hardly surprisingly, Coleman classes his time riding Xcellent as a career highlight.
"He was a freak, it is just a shame he didn't stay sound," Coleman said. "Still, four group ones and a third in the Melbourne Cup."
If Xcellent was a highlight Coleman finds it difficult to label a low point, saying that losing his best friend in a car crash has given him a different outlook.
"It puts things into perspective," he said. "You can think you've had a bad day at the races, but you know that things could be so much worse."
To get away from racing and clear his mind, like many jockeys he enjoys his downtime on the golf course.
"It's what I like to do outside racing," he said. "I'm sitting on a handicap of eight; the lowest I've been is seven."
And while some of his rivals on Boxing Day may be steering clear of the Christmas Day buffet, Coleman isn't one of them.
"I will have a little bit of everything: ham, salad, chicken. I don't miss out on too much," he said.
"After a family Christmas with both sets of parents and the kids, it will be home and concentrate on the Boxing Day races. Hopefully, I can win some big races over the holiday period," he said, adding that his best chance of group success is likely to be Perfect Fit in the Railway.
A return to his favourite racecourse and preferable conditions underfoot are expected to see Sound Proposition bounce back to form.
Trainers Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott are confident the sparingly-raced 5-year-old can prove his last-placing at his most recent outing was an aberration.
"I think everyone was a little disappointed in the run at Tauranga last start," Scott said.
"He finished well down the track that day, but that was his first attempt on wet ground and we had to find out whether he handled it or not. Quite evidently he didn't. We also rode him a little closer to the speed than usual that day.
"His bodyweight and his general health wasn't as good as it is now and he's always been a horse that has never come up in the spring.
"With the six or seven weeks he has had between runs, it has really been an opportunity to put a bit of weight on him and he'll be a far healthier horse today."
Ellerslie has proved a happy hunting ground for Sound Proposition, with three of his four career victories, including the Easter Stakes, coming at Auckland's premier racecourse.
"His record at the track is impeccable. We're drawn out a wee bit [barrier 13] and being a bit bigger field this year there should be more pressure on to find your spot. Hopefully, they run along at a genuine speed which will give us an opportunity to round them up from the back of the field," Scott said.
- NZ Racing Desk.
