New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame trainer, the late Mike Moroney, has been honoured by the Victoria Racing with a race named after him to be contested on the Gr.1 Makybe Diva Stakes card at Flemington this Saturday, September 12.
The Listed 1400m for three-year-olds formerly known as the Exford Plate has been renamed the Michael Moroney.
Best known as the trainer of 2000 Melbourne Cup winner Brew amongst 55 Group One wins, Moroney passed away at age 66 in February 2025 after a short illness. He grew up in Matamata, where he forged his training career in the early 1980s as a protégé of fellow Hall of Famer Dave O’Sullivan, and after establishing Ballymore Stables enjoyed immediate success.
His first Group One winner was Imperial Angel in the 1985 New Zealand 1000 Guineas in the same year as his first trainers’ premiership, and it wasn’t long before he looked west to Australia, where he was to make his greatest mark in racing.
Moroney’s first Australian Group One success was with Heavenly Body in the 1989 South Australian Oaks, and Second Coming’s win in the 1997 Victoria Derby was the precursor to Ballymore Australia becoming established three years later at Flemington’s historic Chiquita Lodge.
“Mike originally hoped to establish a base in Melbourne but had to change those plans to Adelaide when he was told that he could not be licensed in Victoria while maintaining a stable in New Zealand,” his brother Paul revealed.
“He insisted that he would always retain the Matamata stable, which is why he initially trained in South Australia, but to their credit the Victorian authorities relented and allowed him to be licensed there.
“Even though he had enjoyed significant early success in Australia, Mike was still pretty much unknown there, which is why he considered it such a huge honour to be granted stabling at Chiquita Lodge.
“It would be fair to say he made the most of the opportunities offered him, which included training for some of the biggest names in Australian ownership ranks, people like VRC chairman Andrew Ramsden and Rupert Legh.”
Ramsden was in the ownership group that raced Brew, whose Melbourne Cup victory was complemented by stablemate Second Coming’s third place. Other wins at Flemington were Monaco Consul’s 2009 Victoria Derby, the 2010 Victoria Oaks by Brazilian Pulse and the 2022 Newmarket Handicap and Champions Sprint by former Ballymore Matamata-trained Roch ’N’ Horse.
The significance of having a Flemington stakes race named after his brother isn’t lost on his renowned bloodstock agent brother.
“Mike loved Flemington and he loved Australian racing, but he never forgot his origins, going back all the way to growing up when the two of us became besotted with racing.
“There was a lot of family history already, dating back to before the Second World War when my mother’s father Charlie Casey registered the colours that were to become famous through Ballymore Stables.
“Our grandfather bred and raced the 1949 Great Northern Oaks winner Lady’s Bridge and from her he and our grandmother bred the 1960 Centenary Melbourne Cup winner Hi Jinx.
“So the connection to Flemington is undeniable and now for Mike to be honoured like this, it’s very humbling for the whole family.
“The VRC have extended an invitation to join them on Saturday, which I imagine will be very emotional day for us all. Mike’s daughter Aliesha and son-in-law Chad Ormsby along with his grand-daughters Lincoln and Macey will be there, also our sister Sue, my daughter Melissa, Mike’s partner Karen and his former racing manager Anthony Feroce, who he was also very close to.
“I know that Mike would probably be surprised that the VRC saw fit to honour him in this way, but having a race in his name on a Group One day at Australia’s most famous racecourse says a lot for the esteem in which he was and will always be held.”
