Article by Michael Manley for www.racing.com

Improved stayer Swords Drawn will spend his next two starts trying to win his way into Australia’s two major staying races.

The Mike Moroney trained galloper will run in next Saturday’s $300,000 Mornington Cup (2400m) which carries a golden ticket into the Caulfield Cup.

Then he will start in the $500,000 Andrew Ramsden Stakes (2800m) at Flemington on May 13, which carries a spot into the Melbourne Cup for the winner.

Moroney has only trained the former Kiwi for six starts and in his past four starts, he has won once and been placed three times. In New Zealand the son of Camelot was trained by Shaun Ritchie and was a listed winner.

Moroney has been pleased with Swords Drawn’s runs since he placed him at 2000m or further.

Two starts ago he won the Listed Torney Cup at The Valley and then he finished third behind the top-class stayers Goldman and Soulcombe in the Roy Higgins Quality.

To underline the merit of that effort, both of those gallopers are high up in Sportsbet’s Melbourne Cup market, with Goldman second fabvourite at $11 and Soulcombe equal third favourite at $15.

“His run was really good as he hadn’t run for a while and he chased home two smart horses,” Moroney said.

Moroney was setting Swords Drawn for the Adelaide Cup, but he missed the race due to an eye problem.

He said having a break of over a month between runs might have been a blessing in disguise.

“I gave him a quick freshen-up because of this. He had had a long campaign, so he had a quick freshen-up.”

Meanwhile, Moroney said his sprinter Not An Option would try to make it successive wins in the Hareeba Stakes.

Two starts ago Not An Option won over 1400m at Flemington and then he finished fifth in the Victoria Handicap last week at Sandown Lakeside behind Cardinal Gem.

Last year Not An Option caused an upset when he won the Hareeba Stakes at odds of $41.