Michael Moroney hopes another of his former New Zealand-based gallopers can triumph when Swords Drawn contests the Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m) on Saturday.

The Flemington trainer took out last year’s A$500,000 feature with Banker’s Choice, a son of Mongolian Khan, who commenced his career in Ballymore Stables’ Matamata barn before heading across the Tasman.

Eight-year-old Swords Drawn followed suit last year after claiming the Listed Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m) in April and added another black-type success to his record in the Listed Torney Night Cup (2500m) at the Valley in February.

Moroney had intended to line the Camelot gelding up in the Listed Kilmore Cup (1600m) on November 26, but the meeting was abandoned after three races, seeing Swords Drawn contest the Gr.3 Eclipse Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield last Saturday.

“We were going to go to the Kilmore Cup and then into the Ballarat Cup, so that threw us off a little, so we had to go to Caulfield,” Moroney said.

Moroney was pleased with the third-placed performance by Swords Drawn in the Group Three, an improvement on his first-up tenth in the Gr.2 The Damien Oliver at Flemington earlier in November.

“He made good ground again late, which was a bit surprising because I thought he still had some freshness in his legs, which he obviously didn’t,” he said.

“He was pretty unlucky over 1400m at Flemington which surprised us up on top of the ground, but he was under pressure a long way-out on Saturday, but he picked up and ran on again.

“He seems to just take that one run and then becomes pretty dour.

“The 2000m will suit him third-up and there is some rain forecast, and he does handle that.”

Expat-Kiwi jockey Daniel Stackhouse will partner Moroney’s charge on Saturday, with other Kiwi interest including New Zealand-bred pair Captain Envious and Young Werther, the latter a $6.50 third-favourite with TAB bookmakers.