Co-owner Nick Williams has revealed that the 2014 Caulfield Cup could be the 2014 Spring Racing Carnival target for veteran stayer Green Moon.
Green Moon fought Fiorente all the way down the Flemington straight in the 2014 Australian Cup earlier this year. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Green Moon stamped himself as a stayer to watch with a tough second place finish behind Southern Speed in the 2011 edition of the Caulfield Cup, but in recent years Team Williams has opted to bypass the race with the imported galloper and instead use the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) as his final lead-up run before the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).
The Montjeu entire showed that he is anything, but a spent force with a number of impressive performances at weight-for-age level during his autumn preparation and Williams told Racing Ahead that he is hoping that the Melbourne Cup winner can progress to the Caulfield Cup on October 18 during his spring campaign.
“He is in absolutely terrific order,” Williams said.
“We will send him around again and see where we get to with him.
“I suppose you have to look at races for the Caulfield Cup with him and hopefully he is good enough to get there.”
Green Moon will be undertaking his fourth Spring Racing Carnival campaign when he returns to the races after he made his Australian racing debut during the 2011 Spring Racing Carnival – a campaign that was highlighted by a win in the Group 3 Newcastle Gold Cup (2300m) and his second place finish in the Caulfield Cup.
He was set for the Melbourne Cup during the 2012 Spring Racing Carnival and he bounced back from a tough seventh place finish in the Cox Plate to give Team Williams their fourth win in the Melbourne Cup.
Green Moon was unable to return to that form in 2013 and he was sent to the spelling paddock after being found lame at the end of the Melbourne Cup, where he was beaten by almost 44 lengths.
The rising eight-year-old started his autumn campaign with a close fourth behind Fiorente in the Group 2 Peter Young Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield on February 22 and returned to his best form to push the 2013 Melbourne Cup winner all the way in the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on March 8 before finishing his campaign with a credible seventh in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on April 19.
Green Moon is currently available at a quote of $41 in the 2014 Caulfield Cup betting market with Ladbrokes Australia and is priced at 2014 Melbourne Cup odds of $61.
