“He never dropped his glasses, and in this very cool fashion of Mike, he simply said to me, ‘look behind him’.”
The brothers then watched in awe as jockey Kerrin McEvoy swept down the outside on Brew to win Australasia’s greatest race.
Paul Moroney, left, with his trainer-brother Mike and the 2000 Cup winner Brew.Credit: Sebastian Costanzo
The Moroney boys were two of five siblings, including Catherine, Sue and Brendon, who grew up on a small Matamata dairy farm in New Zealand. Despite the modest family business and upbringing, they were bred for racing.
Their father Denny was a former trackwork rider who worked part-time at a stud to supplement their income, and their mother, Mary, grew up in a family (the Caseys) who bred the winner of the 1960 Melbourne Cup, Hi Jinx.
When their mother’s brother-in-law, Buzz Leggett, won the Great Northern hurdles-steeplechase double at Ellerslie in 1965 the boys, aged seven and five, became “crazily fanatical” about thoroughbreds.
Outside of primary school hours they were consumed by the sport, pouring over racing publications and even making cards of their favourite horses.
“We created our own monetary system and held our own yearling sales from mass-produced cards made from old tote tickets collected from the regular family race meeting outings,” Paul said.
“We each had a pony, which, of course, led to our own horse races, dressed in the Casey family’s silks – sky-blue and black sleeves,” Paul said.
“We set up hurdle and steeplechase courses for foot races, competing not as Mike versus Paul, but as an array of our favourite racehorses. As with the pony races, I always ran second.”
Moroney left school at 16 and took up a position at Dave O’Sullivan’s New Zealand stables where he became stable foreman nine months later.
Seven years later he took up training on his own and set up Ballymore Stables with his then wife, Jane, landing a winner with their first runner, Bold Avon, at Matamata, ridden by Greg Childs and owned by Jane’s father.
He won his first group 1 two years later and after ongoing success set up a satellite stable in Adelaide in 1996 before taking over Chicquita Lodge at Flemington.
Moroney’s only child, daughter Aliesha, described her father as having a unique sense of humour who loved to tell “corny Dad jokes”, give bear hugs and sing Neil Diamond “terribly, but with 200 per cent commitment”.
“Many didn’t know all that he went through the last 10 months, but after being in a coma for so long, he had to relearn how to breathe, speak and walk,” Aliesha said of her father’s illness.
“He was incredibly patient as he learned to speak again, often laughing at our poor attempts at guessing what he was trying to say.
“And through it all, he remained positive, always fighting, never giving up, even his last moments, he was strong, resilient and determined.
“I’ll miss his big smile, his bear hugs, those chubby hands I held so often, his piles of business notes, his terrible sense of direction and the way he lit up for quiz shows.”
Paul and Aliesha thanked Moroney’s partner of the past 21 years Karen for her support.
Throughout the service, Moroney was remembered as a lover of Central Otago Pinot Noir, a loyal All Blacks supporter, a believer in the number six, and a man who left behind an “amazing legacy of admiration, achievement, love and respect”.
“After that amazing first Tuesday of November 2000 Cup win, we often joked that we now wouldn’t die wondering,” Paul said. “Brother, you didn’t. Rest in peace.”
A funeral service for Moroney will be held in his native New Zealand next week.
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