That client, Ross Vernall, was keen to set up a breeding operation and had asked Moroney to source a couple of well-bred mares out of the Northern Hemisphere sales to bring back to New Zealand to breed with.
While Moroney would end up buying four mares from the December Sale, the marquee purchase was undoubtedly Breeze Hill, the half-sister to G1 English Derby winner Dr Devious (Ire) (Ahonoora {GB}), who had failed to place in her previous six starts for her breeder Robert Sangster.
"It was for a first-time client, a guy called Ross Vernall, and it was his foray into the breeding industry under the guise of Consolidated Bloodstock Limited," Moroney told TDN AusNZ.
"He was a mate of mine and I'd been discussing things with him for a few years and he decided to have a bit of a crack. We went up to that Sale and bought a couple of mares and Breeze Hill was one of them. I paid 150,000 gns (AU$283,500) for her. At that stage, she was unplaced but there was nothing wrong with her.
"She had a great pedigree, a fantastic pedigree, being a half-sister to a Derby winner, and you don’t get too many of them come out to Australasia."
"She had a great pedigree, a fantastic pedigree, being a half-sister to a Derby winner, and you don’t get too many of them come out to Australasia." - Paul Moroney
Not only was Breeze Hill a half-sister to Dr Devious, but also to stakes-winners Archway (Ire), Royal Court (Ire) (Sadler's Wells {USA}) and Shinko King (Ire). Subsequent to the purchase, international Group 1 winners Suzuka Phoenix (Jpn) (Sunday Silence {USA}), Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and Maybe (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) were added to the pedigree page.
It wasn't just the pedigree which stood out to Moroney, who was looking for a mare which could also influence her progeny on type as well.
"She was a good type, maybe a bit plain in the head for a Danehill, but she was a good-bodied mare, clean-limbed, correct, and she showed enough promise. We thought at one stage that she had shown enough to have another racing season before she headed to stud, but Ross, with the money tied up in her, wanted to get her to stud," he said.
Her lone career win came for Moroney's brother Mike in a 2100 metre Te Rapa maiden, and that was enough to ensure she headed the breeding barn.
Paul and Mike Moroney
"The question was whether she was going to do enough the next season to get black type. Unless she was going to do that, it was more important for her to be at stud," he said.
"She had a Zabeel colt first off (Va Benissimo), who won in Hong Kong and won five races all up. Then she had a couple of Elusive Quality fillies and I ended up buying her colt by Pentire out of the trials, Lord Disick, and he ended up being a metro winner for Mike."
Breeze Hill also produced the winners Ekibuuka (Encosta De Lago) and So Ard (High Chaparral {Ire}) while in the Southern Hemisphere. Her progeny proved quite popular at the yearling sales, with Van Benissimo fetching $625,000, Ekibuuka NZ$350,000 and her Elusive Quality (USA) filly Surgeon's Choice (NZ), $350,000 at various sales .
Coolmore swoops
A change of business direction saw Breeze Hill offered for sale at the Inglis Easter Broodmare Sale in 2012, where BBA Ireland picked her up for $100,000 on behalf of Coolmore.
"Ross had a change of tack," Moroney explained. "He got quite heavily involved in the breeding side of things and then he decided to concentrate on a new property developing venture he had and he sold most of his bloodstock, including Breeze Hill, who was in foal to High Chaparral.
"The Coolmore lads bought her. The family had kicked on by that stage, with Dancing Rain and the like, and they bought her, foaled her down to High Chaparral and took her back up north."
Her final Australian foal, named So Ard, won one of her seven starts for Patrick Payne, and is now under the ownership of Rick Hill in New Zealand. She has produced two fillies to Vadamos (Ire), the eldest of which is about to turn two.
Breeze Hill's first two Northern Hemisphere foals were by Galileo (Ire), with the first one named Latin Beat (Ire) ending up in Australia, firstly under the ownership of Lloyd Williams before being sold to race for trainer Saab Hasan.
The second Galileo, a filly named Miss Latin (Ire), and trained by David Simcock, is also a winner.
A star emerges
Even So, owned by Susan Magnier and Linda Shanahan, is by far the best of her progeny, having impressively won her maiden for trainer Ger Lyons at Gowran Park last September. She commenced her 3-year-old campaign with a third in a Group 3 race at Naas, before contesting the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas, where she was fifth, beaten 4l by Peaceful (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).
She then won the Listed Oaks Trial at Naas earlier this month before her Group 1 success in the Irish Oaks at The Curragh on Saturday, where she surged clear late under jockey Colin Keane.
Her success, in one way, is a feather in the cap of Moroney, albeit one that has a sense of possible lost opportunity about it.
"She feels a little bit like the one that got away, but when I bought her, she was probably as well-bred a mare that has come out to New Zealand. Very few half-sisters to Derby winners by Danehill find their way out to New Zealand," he said.
"She feels a little bit like the one that got away." - Paul Moroney
"It’s been a cracking family. Shinko King has been a good sire out here as well. The family has kicked on. It was just a shame he couldn't have kept her and kept breeding with her, but that's the way of the world and it has worked out well for Coolmore.
"She has certainly been given every chance since she went back north, but she has left seven individual winners from 10 foals to race, which is a pretty good record, and now a Group 1 winner. It’s a hell of a lot better than a lot of broodmares do!"
Classic success flows
The success comes less than a week after Moroney celebrated his connection to another winner of a European Classic, the German Derby, which was won by In Swoop (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}).
"In the past three years I have bought two half-sisters to last week's German Derby winner for clients and now I have bought the dam of an Irish Oaks winner, it’s been a pretty good past six days as far as the purchases of the breeding stock have gone," he said.
"It’s been a pretty good past six days as far as the purchases of the breeding stock have gone." - Paul Moroney
He said that is one of the great advantages from buying from strong international families.
"When you are buying out of top families and buying them off top breeders, they are always helping you out the whole way. They might have the half-sisters, and dams and everything, which are mated to the world's best sires," he said.
"There is always an increased chance of the immediate family being improved and continuing to produce top-flight horses."
