Sydney’s wettest April day in a decade came a week too early for trainer Mike Moroney.
Brazilian Pulse and King Pulse struggled on the heavy track when unplaced in their respective Group One assignments in the AJC Australian Oaks and Galaxy at Randwick on Saturday.
The Melbourne-based Moroney is hoping when he comes back on Saturday similar conditions await Viking Hero and Tinseltown.
“The rain came at the wrong time,” Moroney said.
“I want it wet for next week for Tinseltown and Viking Hero.
“Brazilian Pulse and King Pulse just didn’t handle it at all but the other two will.”
Tinseltown runs in the Sydney Cup (3200m) while Viking Hero lines up in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
A seven-year-old who has done most of his racing out of Moroney’s New Zealand stable, Tinseltown has been a frequent visitor to Australia over the past couple of years.
His best performance so far was his third in the 2009 Group Two Brisbane Cup (2400m) won by Scenic Shot on a heavy track.
It took Viking Hero’s win in the Group Three Eclipse Stakes (1800m) in November last year to convince Moroney he was a wet tracker even though he had run two placings on heavy tracks prior to that race.
Moroney believed if it hadn’t been for the wet, Viking Hero would have won both those races.
The four-year-old showed promise early, winning his second start.
His efforts to reproduce that were mostly in vain and when he did, in the Listed Myer Fashion Stakes during the 2009 Melbourne Cup carnival, his behaviour cost him the race in a protest hearing.
After a trip to Queensland for the 2010 winter carnival, he was gelded and has been more consistent since.
He was spelled after his Eclipse Stakes win and resumed with a third in a 1400m handicap at Caulfield before running an even race for a 3-1/2 lengths seventh in the Doncaster Mile Prelude (1600m).
