Family Affair For Moloneys At Mornington
- Wednesday, 17 September 2014 08:36
Apprentice Patrick Moloney added some family flavour to Wednesday's Mornington meeting, winning aboard a horse trained by his father and part-owned by his mother.
The talented young rider guided Taddei Tondo to victory in the Bayside Jeep Handicap (1000m), bringing the five-year-old with a well-timed run to defeat favourite Il Cavallo by a short head.
"It's pretty special," Maloney said.
"It's my first metropolitan win for Dad, and Mum owns most of the horse."
Maloney said he and his father Gerard had worked hard with Taddei Tondo at trackwork because the horse could be difficult to handle.
Gerard Maloney decided to freshen the gelding up and drop him back from 1400m to 1000m so he wouldn't over-race.
It proved a winning move as he claimed his fifth win from 19 starts.
Meanwhile, trainer Matt Laurie has spring carnival ambitions for lightly raced three-year-old Staviva naming the Group Two Sandown Guineas (1600m) as the horse's long-term target.
Staviva notched his first metropolitan win in Wednesday's Orbit Fitness Handicap (1200m), sprinting well from the second half of the field to score by 1-1/4 lengths over Convincible with Shaf third.
"He's a lovely horse who has always shown a lot of ability," Laurie said.
Staviva's win followed a first-up maiden victory at Moe and prompted Laurie to aim towards a Listed 1400m race against his own age at Flemington on October 4.
But Laurie ruled out any thought of tackling the Caulfield Guineas.
"I think if we do the right thing we can place him right and pick up some good wins," Laurie said.
"We are thinking about maybe the Carbine Club Stakes and the Sandown Guineas."
Staviva was ridden by Ben Melham who brought up a winning double after an earlier victory on the Darren Weir-trained Manna Trust.
Melham has had a successful start to the spring with wins on Dissident in Melbourne's first two Group One races of the season.
He said Staviva was heading in the right direction.
"I think there was a bit of depth in that race today and he put them away quite comfortably in the end," Melham said.
