If Mike Moroney wins the Melbourne Cup with one of his three runners today, the first thing he will do is pull a newspaper clipping from his back pocket.
It is a cartoon based on Moroney's former Victoria Derby winner Second Coming when he ran in the Cup two years ago.
Second Coming beat only one runner home. That horse, Interval, a former New Zealander but at the time trained in Singapore, broke down badly late in the race and had to be put down.
The cartoon is a photo of Second Coming tailing the field with only the stationary Interval behind him with someone asking the horse what happened.
The bubble from Second Coming's mouth says: "Oh, I thought everything stops for the Melbourne Cup."
"Wouldn't it be nice to win the Melbourne Cup with the same horse and show the cartoon around," said Moroney as he watched Second Coming put the final touches to his Cup preparation at the Flemington trackwork session yesterday.
Second Coming has come a long way since then. And he needed to do that because winning a Melbourne Cup at your third attempt is not the essence of dreams.
"That year he got pulling and everything went wrong," said Moroney.
Second Coming finishes seventh last year ad Moroney says that could have been improved on.
"We were still uncertain he could successfully manage the 3200m, so we told Greg Childs to ride him quietly. Greg went forward on him and got into a beautiful spot up front, but because of his instructions he took hold of him and buried him back in the field.
"If he'd stayed where he was he'd have finished a lot closer."
Moroney knows now Second Coming is perfect at the 3200m, which he showed in January when a close second in the Auckland before destroying the opposition in the Wellington Cup.
Moroney will saddle the same three he had in last year's Cup with Brew, winner of Saturday's $A200,000 Saab Quality and outsider Maridpour supporting Second Coming.
Moroney clearly prefers Second Coming to the other pair provided the track remains dry.
"Everyone here is saying Brew is my obvious choice after his win on Saturday but I say Second Coming."
Second Coming will be ridden by Kiwi jockey Michael Coleman.
"I'm pleased to have Michael on because he believes in the horse and believes in his ability to get the 3200m.
"He rode him in the Wellington Cup and look at the result."
Brew has to overcome his shocking No24 barrier draw and Moroney is happy to entrust what will be a tough job to relatively green apprentice Kerrin McEvoy.
"Kerrin will do a good job, he's one of the best young riders in Melbourne.
"You know, they always say here that Brew is a bit ploddy, but when he won the Listed race at Caulfield they electronically timed him to run his last 600m in 34.2, as fast as the best sprinters on the day."
While Moroney is realistic but quietly confident about the chances of Second Coming and Brew, even he can not make a strong case for his third-stringer Maridpour.
The form of the French import is so poor he would be better placed in a country Cup will he need more than an in-form Greg Childs riding to win.
Racing: Moroney hoping to have last laugh with roughie
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