Moroney tests Wham over trip at Flemington

Friday 17 May 2019, 4:55pm

Trainer Mike Moroney is happy to extend Wham out in distance to find out once and for all what the gelding's range is.

Wham is set to run in Saturday's Mahogany Challenge at Flemington, his first attempt at 2000 metres.

He holds a nomination for next month's Group One Queensland Derby and Moroney has reservations about him at 2400m.

But he is prepared to give the three-year-old his opportunity on Saturday as a potential stepping stone to the spring.

A first-up winner over 1212m at Sale in March, Wham has had three subsequent runs, the latest a strong finishing second to the highly regarded Tarwin in the VOBIS Gold Sires at Caulfield on April 27.

"I think he'll have this and possibly go for a break," Moroney said.

"I've got my doubts about him getting even the 2000 metres even though he's a Fiorente, he's out of a Starcraft mare and is a bit more brilliant.

"But in saying that this time around he's starting to pick it up and he might eventually run more to his breeding."

Moroney looked at Wham as a potential Victoria Derby contender last spring but sent the gelding for a spell after five runs.

The trainer felt Wham did not run the trip of the Victoria Derby Trial at Flemington in September.

"In the spring when we tried him at 1800 metres he didn't get it at all, so he's on trial at this trip," Moroney said.

"Another six months on, he's strengthened up a bit, so we'll give him this opportunity to find out whether he can stay.

"That way we can then tip him out for the spring and plan a path."

– AAP

Latest News

Prime Thoroughbreds - We have a Host of Leaders in our Team

Tuesday, 29 June 2021

Prime Thor­ough­bred’s cur­rent rac­ing team is putt­ing to­gether quite a re­cord. We have 22 hors­es that have raced in our team at pre­sent. Six­teen of th­ese are win­n­ers in­clud­ing the Stakes win­n­ing trio Ru­bisa­ki, Fituese and Xtreme­time with Miss Di­vine Em and Miss In Charge run­n­ing 4th in Stakes races. This sees a stakes win­n­er to win­n­er ra­tio of 18.75% with a stake’s per­formed to win­n­er ra­tio of 31.25%. Th­ese are ex­cep­tio­n­al fig­ures.   More »

Freedmans land maiden Group One win

Saturday, 27 February 2021

Un­der-rat­ed fil­ly For­bid­den Love has emerged as an au­tumn car­ni­val smokey with a bril­liant per­for­mance to win the Sur­round Stakes at Rand­wick.  More »

Capriccio completes Damian Lane treble

Saturday, 27 February 2021

In a big day for coun­try-trained hors­es, War­r­nam­bool fil­ly Capric­cio has tak­en out the In­glis Dash for Daniel Bow­man.  More »

More news headlines »