Keats was bought at the Autumn Horses in Training sale in October where he had been training under legendary Irish trainer Aiden O’Brien. Keats is a son of Galileo and a previous winner at Listed level in the Northern Hemisphere
The 3 year old was the cheapest of three buys for the Moroney team at $405,000 and will be second to make his debut in Victoria after English King ran ninth in the Golden Mile last Saturday.
Moroney is keen to get Keats Australian racing career off and running with the 10 start vetran set to run in either the Group 3 Victorian Handicap over 1400m or the BM78 over 1400m at Caulfield on Saturday.
Only rated 85, Keats is currently sitting at 26th in the order of Ballot in the Victoria Handicap and with only 16 starters and 4 emergencies he looks unlikely to get the start. He is guaranteed the start in the BM78 but would have to carry 63.5kgs as a consequence.
If Keats doesn’t make the cut off for the Handicap then apprentice Harry Grace is likely to get the start with a 3kg claim.
“We would prefer to run in the Victoria Handicap, but if we have to he will start in the other race,” Moroney said.
“He is a sprinter-miler at the moment … we have left him a bull at this stage and that is the only real question mark.
“We have left him a colt because he has still got residual (value) as a stallion if he can win a couple of Group 1s.
“His work this morning was good and his trials have been OK, everyone who has ridden him has said we may need to put blinkers on which we have.
“He is a little bit field shy but he is a nice type of horse.”