Green Moon rises at Flemington

By Robert Windmill

MELBOURNE, March 10 AAP - Caulfield Cup runner-up Green Moon made a successful hit-and-run autumn raid with an impressive Group Two Blamey Stakes win at Flemington.

Nick Williams, who co-owns the five-year-old with his parents Lloyd and Suzie, said Saturday's 1600-metre feature would be Green Moon's only run this campaign and flagged the Cox Plate as a spring target.

"He's a very, very good horse," Williams said after the former English galloper surged through a gap to run down three-year-old Pied A Terre and win by a length.

"That will do him now. He will be in the paddock tomorrow and we will get him ready for the spring.

"He is the real deal. There is absolutely no doubt about that."

"You think back to the spring and he was very unlucky (when second to Southern Speed) in the Caulfield Cup and had to do all the work in the Newcastle Cup which he won.

"We knew he was good and he is certainly going better in the autumn.

"He is just getting better the longer he has been in Australia and I think he is a serious Group One horse.

"He's shown now he can perform at this level over a mile so we will give him a standard spring preparation and he will head towards the Cups or the Cox Plate depending on what he is showing us at the time."

Jockey Craig Williams said Green Moon was tough and did it at both ends of the Blamey after he made use of him early in the race to get a prominent position and then rode for luck on the fence which paid off.

"He gave me a really good feel," Williams said.

"I had to work him really hard from the gates to get a position but halfway (through the race) he really grabbed the bridle and really wanted to go forward.

"When he got the gap at the top of the straight he outsprinted some really good milers and it looks like they are going to be in for a nice spring with him."

Wall Street looked a threat when he emerged on the outside turning for home and he battled home to be 1-1/2 lengths away third.