Jockey Brenton Avdulla

Brenton Avdulla is fresh off a tremendous victory yesterday when he managed to keep Green Moon going all the way to the line in the Newcastle Cup.

Avdulla wasn’t even scheduled to be on the mount but with a last minute call up he got to experience a real highlight of his career so far.

“It was a thrill…it was just the beauty of getting to ride 53kg where not a lot of others could ride it,” he said.

“The instructions where exactly pretty much how I rode him.”

Those instructions then were no doubt ambitious, green Moon was trapped three wide early one before doing a mountain of work to get to the lead before the turn.

“I was a little bit worried around the corner whether he’d keep running,” he said.

There’s not a lot of time to reflect on the win though as he re-focuses on Rosehill this Saturday and the 2011 George Main Stakes.

His ride in the main event is Ilovethiscity, a talented racehorse no doubt but one which struggled a bit last start a week ago in the Theo Marks Stakes.

“The seven day backup has always been the plan…the main target has always been this race,” he said.

“The 1500m around Rosehill will suit.”

Avdulla says the journey is actually probably perfect given he found the 1300m just a little short for him last time out.

“I think it’s ideal, I think on his day he’s at his best around 1400m or 1500m, blinkers will help too,” he said.

He admits though that on paper there doesn’t appear to be a lot of speed in the race, something he would benefit form.

“The weight for age races around these days, there’s not a lot of tempo usually,” he said.

As mentioned the blinkers also go on for the first time this prep as they try to bring the horse up to his peak.

“He ran good first up and on Saturday just gone he didn’t run bad but I just said to (trainer) Grahame (Begg) it might be time to put the blinkers on,” he said.

“He’s not a brilliant track worker but it did just spark him up that little bit more so I’m happy with him.”