The Michael Moroney stable are returning 183% on punters investment at Flemington this season and have a strong trio assembled for Saturday. Swords Drawn will contest a benchmark 100 over 2000m, Jungle Jim a benchmark 78 over 1200m, while Snapper will fly the flag in the Group 3 Standish Handicap (1200m).
A son of Camelot, Swords Drawn started his career under Shaune Ritchie in New Zealand, eventually coming to Queensland for two runs before transferring to the care of Moroney late last year and now getting to 2000m, Moroney is confident the horse is ready to peak.
“He’s come to the right part of his prep now, his two runs have been really good over short trips and he gets towards his right trip now. Ollie goes on and we’re expecting him to go pretty close,”Moroney said.
Enigmatic sprinter Snapper was a winner down the Flemington straight over the carnival before an even effort in benchmark grade last time out, but Moroney believes a quicker turnaround can see him competitive in the Group 3 Standish Handicap (1200m).
“He’s an up-and-coming horse, he had a slight excuse last time…We thought we’d stayed on top of him but he does take a lot of work and I think the closer back up is definitely going to help him,” Moroney said.
An even field for this year’s Standish, Snapper is one of seven horses in single figures for the race, something Moroney is mindful of.
“These races are getting stronger, people leaving horses in work after the carnival, he raced over our carnival and stayed in work…it’s a reasonably strong Standish,” Moroney said.
The stable’s best chance, according to current markets, is Jungle Jim, who led all of the way to win over 1100m down the straight last time out, and Moroney is confident in his chances again.
“He’s a really nice sprinter, I think now he’s deeper into his prep he should get the 1200 metres down the straight, he just hung on last start but he’s fitter for having that run again too, we think he’d be pretty hard to beat (as) he makes his own luck,” Moroney said.
