Mike Moroney was hoping he was not needed for two tributes this week, but when he watched Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park) turn in a distinctly un-Tofane run in the $1m Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) on Saturday, he was content to finally turn the page on her grand racing career.
“She’s been such a great mare for our stable, but that’ll be it for her,” Moroney said after Tofane’s unusually lacklustre 12th placing in the Memsie.
“She’s off to stud the spring and really it was only a run-by-run sort of thing and unfortunately, she just couldn’t fire today. But that can’t detract from what she’s done. A super mare.”
Moroney flew back into Melbourne to watch Tofane tackle the Memsie after laying his father Denny to rest in New Zealand on Thursday.
“He was 93 and a great man,” Moroney said. “He’s probably more famous than (brother) Paul and I in New Zealand because of his longevity and he just loved the races and he always represented us.
“I think what surprised me was the generations of people that worked for me over the years – I had a big team in New Zealand for many years and still have a team there now – the young people just loved him. They absolutely loved him. He was such a role model to them all.
“He didn’t say a lot. Quietly spoken guy, but he led by example.
“I said in my speech, that we had two big Xs in our life – Xcellent (NZ) (Pentire) and my dad that led by example.”
Xcellent ran third for Moroney in Makybe Diva’s third Melbourne Cup in 2005 as well as being a four-time Group 1 winner, including a New Zealand Derby, in just 13 starts.
