Moroney team talks up Lordoftheparrots

Promising but oddly named three-year-old Lordoftheparrots could fill the void in the Mike Moroney stable left by the absence of gifted sprinter King Pulse.

King Pulse suffered serious injuries during the freakish Super Saturday storms at Flemington in March this year.

Following an impressive debut win at Seymour over 1300m when a heavily-backed favourite, Lordoftheparrots caught the eye with his third at Sandown when bumped up to city grade at his second start.

Despite encountering a heavy track for the first time, Lordoftheparrots charged to the post from a seemingly impossible position against more experienced rivals, giving Moroney and managing part-owner Rohan Aujard plenty of hope for the future.

"Steven (Arnold) said he wasn't one hundred per cent comfortable in the wet so the run was probably better than it looked," Moroney's racing manager Anthony Feroce said.

"He looks like a nice horse in the making and we hope he will measure up to better races later in the year."

Lordoftheparrots will take his place in Saturday's Baden-Baden Handicap at Flemington over 1730 metres where he will be tested beyond a mile at just the third start of his career.

But if pedigree is anything to go by the three-year-old will only improve as he is stretched even further in distance next season.

By little-known New Zealand-based but American-bred stallion Lord Of Warriors, a dual Group Three winner in Hong Kong and a middle distance specialist, out of the Half Iced mare Polly's Folly, Lordoftheparrots seems purpose-built for middle-distance racing.

That presents Moroney with a host of minor stakes race options during the spring including the JRA Cup at Moonee Valley and the Coongy Handicap at Caulfield.

But for Aujard, Lordoftheparrots' promise has proved a timely tonic as he waits patiently for King Pulse to recover from injuries which included multiple haematomas, a lowered hip and a chipped shoulder blade.

Feroce said that the horse's recovery was encouraging but he did not expect to see King Pulse back at the races any time soon.

"He's in rehabilitation at the moment and at this stage the reports are pretty positive although we won't know for a little while yet," he said.

AAP