2012 Melbourne Cup winner Green Moon has been retired from racing after he failed to fire in the 2015 Doomben Cup in Brisbane on Saturday.
Melbourne Cup winner Green Moon has been retired from racing. Photo by: Steve Hart
There was a sprinkling of support for Green Moon in the lead-up to Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) after he produced a solid effort to finish sixth in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m) at the Gold Coast on May 9 and jockey Chad Schofield pressed forward on the veteran gelding in the early stages of the race, but he faded badly when asked for an extra effort and he finished the race at the tail of the field more than ten lengths behind dominant winner Pornichet.
Green Moon made his racing debut in England under the care of Harry Dunlop in October of 2009 and he was purchased by Lloyd Williams at the conclusion of the 2010 Northern Hemisphere flat racing season.
The Montjeu entire made his Australian racing debut with an eighth place finish in the 2011 edition of the Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on August 6 and he was ninth in the Chandler Macleod Handicap (1523m) at Moonee Valley before he finished second behind December Draw in the Sofitel Girls’ Day Out Handicap (2000m) at Flemington on September 3.
Green Moon recorded his maiden race win in Australia in the Group 3 Newcastle Gold Cup (2300m) before he produced the best performance of his racing career to date to finish an unlucky second behind Southern Speed in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m).
The imported stayer took out the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) in his only race start during the 2012 Melbourne Festival Of Racing and he stamped himself as a leading Melbourne Cup and Cox Plate contender with a win in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m).
Green Moon started the Cox Plate as favourite, but he received a tough run in transit and he could finish no better than seventh behind Ocean Park and he was a big drifter in Melbourne Cup betting, but he produced an outstanding staying performance to record an impressive victory in ‘the race that stops a nation’.
The talented entire was unable to record another race win following his Melbourne Cup triumph and he was beaten as a short-priced favourite in the 2013 edition of the Group 1 Australian Cup, but he returned to his best form during the 2014 Melbourne Festival Of Racing and finished a close second behind Fiorente in the Australian Cup.
A career at stud now beckons for Green Moon, but Team Williams are yet to release any details about the immediate future of the eight-year-old.
