Coeur Volante chases Moroney dream

By: Craig Brennan - Racing and Sports

The late Mike Moroney always believed Coeur Volante had the potential to be a Group 1 winner. 

As a three-year-old, Coeur Volante started favourite in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield, finishing fourth to Joliestar, while placegetters in that race were subsequent Group 1 winners Kimochi and Skybird. 

Coeur Volante was Moroney's last winner when successful in the Group 3 Mannerism Stakes at Caulfield in February before dying in his sleep just days later. 

Under the care of Glen Thompson, Coeur Volante did not run again at Group 1 level until this year's Sydney Autumn Carnival where the mare finished in the second half of the field in both the Coolmore Classic and the Queen Of The Turf Stakes. 

Now in the care of the Lindsay Park team of Ben, Will & Jd Hayes, Coeur Volante is down to run in the final Group 1 race of the 2024-25 season, the Tattersall's Tiara (1400m), another contest for the fillies and mares, at Eagle Farm on Saturday. 

Coeur Volante will be having her second outing for the Hayes brothers, having finished ninth in the Listed Helen Coughlan Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm on June 7. 

Will Hayes said Coeur Volante had made good progress from that first-up outing having had two trials for the stable after joining the Lindsay Park operation following the Queen Of The Turf Stakes. 

"We are very happy with how she's progressed out of her first-up run," Hayes said. 

"We were seven weeks between runs, not by design, just with the floods and the weather up there, we couldn't get a run into her. 

"But she has tightened up nicely and we expect her to run a forward race." 

Jockey Jordan Childs will have to be at his best if he is to get Coeur Volante home. 

Coeur Volante drew gate 20 at Wednesday's barrier draw but will come into barrier 15 if the five emergencies do not gain a start. 

Lindsay Park collected the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap on June 14 with the former Moroney-trained galloper War Machine.