Savaglee winning at Matamata in 2023. Photo / Supplied
The race of Savaglee’s career will now be run in the shadow of a gigantic loss in the life of trainer Pam Gerard, and the entire racing industry, with the sudden death of New Zealand racing legend Mike Moroney.
Moroney, who passed away in his sleep in Victoria on Thursday morning, was Gerard’s long-time training partner and mentor.
The Matamata trainer only learned of Moroney’s death on her way to Melbourne to saddle Savaglee in tomorrow’s Australian Guineas.
“It was a real shock even though Mike had had his health issues since last year,” says Gerard.
“I spoke to him the other day and even though he had been having treatment he was in good spirits, sharp as a tack and said he would see me at trackwork.
“But he went to bed on Wednesday and never woke up.
“It is very sad and we are all still in a state of shock but we will go over there and try to do him proud.”
Gerard and Moroney trained some wonderful horses together until Moroney withdrew from their New Zealand training partnership to concentrate on his Australian stable, in part due to his health.
While even a race of this magnitude and importance to Savaglee’s career pales in comparison with the gravity of Moroney’s passing, Gerard knows better than anybody Moroney would want her at Flemington and doing her best.
Ironically, Savaglee will be trying to beat one of Moroney’s own horses in Plymouth, who also races in the Guineas on what will be an emotional day for many.
Savaglee arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday night in exactly the condition Gerard wants him in for the Guineas, victory in which would double his already considerable value.
“He worked great on Tuesday morning,” says Gerard.
“I think his run in the BCD Sprint has brought him on. He might have been a bit fresh going into that race, the way he sweated up before it.
“But his third was still really good, good enough to press on for this race.”
Savaglee of course could have been in his Matamata stable today resting up before the $3.5m NZB Kiwi at Ellerslie next Saturday, for which he was the favourite before his owners decided on the Guineas and its stallion-making power.
Their decision already looks vindicated as this is not a vintage Australian Guineas, lacking several of Australia’s best three-year-olds, so Savaglee finds himself in a Group 1 he can win.
“There is no regret in missing the Kiwi, because while we would love to win that, we always had to do the right thing by his future stallion career,” says Gerard.
“So this is the right target for him and he is in the right form to tackle it.”
Savaglee has all the tools to be a factor tomorrow. He has the breeding, has travelled successfully throughout his career and has the barrier speed to race handy, so crucial for New Zealand horses heading to Australia.
Add in a world-class jockey in Mick Dee, who won this race on another Matamata-trained three-year-old in Legarto two years ago, and Savaglee ticks a lot of boxes.
“We can’t know yet whether he is actually good enough to win it but that is why he is here, to find out,” says Gerard.
“We have the draw to be handy and I think he raced in the BCD Sprint like a horse ready for a hard 1600m or even further.
“This race stacks up like that and the big track should make for a true 1600m so that will help him.”
There are plenty of colts in the opposition who may not have found their ceilings yet, in particular Angel Capital, but there is a strong argument Savaglee is the best performed horse in the race.
But he will still need to do something special and maybe reach a new peak to win a Guineas now to be run in the shadow of a giant.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.