KEY POINTS:
On paper, Efficient looks the winner of tomorrow's A$1.5 million ($1.74 million) Victoria Derby for three-year-olds.
But horses have started the Derby before with the same boom on them as Efficient and failed to run out the 2500m distance.
It is that journey into the unknown and the belief in his own smart colt The One that transtasman trainer Mike Moroney is banking on in tackling Efficient.
"That's the thing with the race, we don't know how any of them will go over the distance," Moroney said yesterday.
Efficient had the measure of The One in the Aami Vase at Moonee Valley last Saturday, winning by 1 lengths over a 2040m distance, with a gap to the rest.
Both settled at the rear of the field and when Efficient made his move at the 700m, The One followed him, but had more traffic to negotiate.
"I thought that at stages we were four or five lengths off the other horse and we only ended up 1 lengths off him, so it was a good run by our horse," Moroney said.
"The only question I have is that over the last bit Efficient seemed to be holding us."
Looking at their sires, Efficient seems to have the better credentials to run out the distance. He is by Zabeel while The One is by O'Reilly, whose stock are not renowned stayers.
But countering that, The One's dam The Grin is from the famed Southland breeding line of the Dennis brothers.
It has produced horses of the calibre of The Grin's dam The Dimple, The Fantasy, The Twinkle, The Phantom and The Phantom Chance, many of whom excelled over the derby distance.
Moroney has had to work hard with The One this spring as the colt has lacked maturity.
He has varied The One's work to stints on the beach and schooling over small hurdles over the past fortnight to keep him mentally alert for tomorrow's big test.
The barrier draw did Moroney no favours as The One ended up with gate 11.
"It's resigned us to being in the back third of the field," Moroney said of the draw.
"He is normally a backmarker, but it just takes away the option of settling further up."
Moroney would like a strong tempo in the race, so that The One can utilise his finishing sprint.
The only trouble with that is Efficient will be wanting the same tempo.
"They are similar horses, they both have a good turn of foot," he said.
Despite the question marks and Moroney's belief The One will be a better racehorse in the autumn, the stable is confident they have a strong chance of taking the derby for the second time. Second Coming was successful for Moroney in 1997.
"We are confident, although it's a bit unknown just how good the favourite is and he has looked pretty smart winning them the way he has.
"But we think a lot of our horse too and think it will be a very interesting clash."
The money has kept coming in for Efficient and his odds were trimmed to $2.25 by Australian bookmakers yesterday, after being $2.70 after last Saturday's win.
Get Square was second favourite on $5.50 and The One is third favourite at $7.
- NZPA
