Exciting New Zealand four-year-old Bankers Choice will do his future racing from the Australian stable of Michael Moroney after clients secured a majority interest in the talented galloper.
The son of Mongolian Khan was a dashing last start winner of the Group 3 Anniversary Handicap (1600m), beating subsequent Group One winner Coventina Bay, and has won five of his ten starts for Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh.
Bred and raced by South Waikato farming couple Ross and Corrine Kearney under their Okaharau Station entity, Bankers Choice has been in vintage form through the summer months, posting impressive victories at Te Rapa, Ellerslie and Trentham.
“The owners have retained a share in him, but we have bought the majority of him for mainly Australian clients, but there was also 20 percent sold to New Zealanders as well,” Moroney said.
“We will bring him over on the 23rd (of February) and Stephen Marsh will look after him till then.”
The first assignment for Bankers Choice is likely to be the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on March 5.
“I will probably give him one gallop then run him,” Moroney said. “The Blamey is the ticket into the big mile (AUD$5 million All Star Mile) here at Flemington on March 19. That's our first thought.
“I would think a race like the Doncaster (Group 1, 1600m) would fit him as well because it is a handicap.
“He looks a really nice horse and since we bought him his form has been franked with Coventina Bay doing what she has done (runner-up in the Group 1 Thorndon Mile and winning the Group 1 Herbie Dyke Stakes).
“He looks a really promising horse and is a really good addition to the stable.”
Moroney is mindful that Bankers Choice was in receipt of seven kilos from Coventina Bay when winning the Anniversary Handicap on the 53kg minimum but had previously been impressed with the gelding's form.
“I think his form lines are very strong. He beat two really good horses at Te Rapa and one of them was ours (Dragon Queen), who has gone on to win at Group Two level,” Moroney said.
“He was also very impressive winning at Ellerslie.
“I think his other assets are that he goes both ways round, he has won right-handed and left-handed, and he handles all sorts of ground. He has been effective on all types of ground from good to heavy and looks an exciting prospect.”