Green Card is marked for a big Spring
Smart 2YO Green Card has major Spring targets in his sights after an emphatic win at Caulfield on Saturday.
The cleverly named second-crop son of All American was having his fourth start in the $80,000 MRC Ted Rainford Plate over 1100 metres after two unplaced starts in December, a spell and a 4.3 length win at Bendigo on 11 June.
Watch Green Card’s Caulfield win here.
Green Card jumped well and pushed up quickly to be third in the early running outside Northkape and Magna Rossa. Jockey Linda Meech sent him forward at the 300-metre mark and the gelding raced away for a very comfortable four-length victory in 1:04.51. Magna Rossa held on for second, a half-head in front of Jalan Jalan.
Green Card is trained by Peter Morgan & Craig Widdison for his owner-breeders Bruce & Jill Mathieson. The gelding’s dam Cristallo (by Testa Rossa) is a stakes-placed, city-winning relative of the grand broodmare Calvinia, dam of Group 1 winner Calveen, Group 2 winner Kosi Bay, Listed stakeswinner Striker & this season’s juvenile Group winner Fireworks (by Snitzel).
Cristallo also has yearling and weanling colts by All American.
Craig Widdison said of Green Card after Saturday’s win, “We’ve got a bit of an opinion of him, so he’ll probably have a little freshen up now and target something in the Spring.
“We always thought he’d probably get out to 1400 or a mile, but we’ll let him tell us. He’ll be nominated for the Guineas and we’ll just see if he measures up to it.”
The $1 million ATC Golden Rose S. G1 on 12 September is also a possibility for Green Card, but Widdison said the stable’s next task would be to freshen Green Card before his Spring campaign, which may begin with the MRC HDF McNeil Stakes G3 on 29 August.
Widdison added, “He’s pretty bombproof and does everything right. You have got to pull yourself up sometimes and realise that he’s only a two-year-old. He does everything like an older horse.”
Green Card, the Gai Waterhouse-trained Eisenhower and recent winners All Aussie & Ramla Bay have boosted All American’s 2014/15 Australian record to 20 winners, 36 wins and $1.1 million prizemoney.
Results from the past month also include a US stakeswinner, 3YO filly America Mon Amie, from All American’s small Kentucky-bred crop.
