NO 2 FOR MOODY

A DARING front-running ride aboard Brambles from Melbourne jockey Brad Rawiller gave trainer Peter Moody successive wins in the Group 3 Grand Prix Stakes at Doomben.

Brambles led from barrier to score a runaway 33⁄ length win over his stablemate Vatuvei in yesterday’s 2000-metre feature.

New Zealander Red Shift battled on to finish a further 31⁄ lengths away.

All three Grand Prix placegetters are now set for a return clash in the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm on June 9.

Moody, who was ill and couldn’t make the trip to Brisbane, won last year’s Grand Prix with Turnitup and is chasing his second Queensland Derby victory following Riva San’s win in 2008.

Rawiller has never won a Group 1 race in Queensland and Brambles clearly is his best hope yet.

‘‘I spoke with Peter Moody this morning and he told me this horse was fit and had improved since his last run,’’ Rawiller said.

‘‘I had plenty of horse under me and I knew he would quicken. He doesn’t give me any indication he won’t run 2400m in the Derby but we don’t want a wet track.’’

Brambles was coming off his last-start win in the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate (2000m) at Doomben on May 12.

Only one horse in the past decade, Ice Chariot (2006), has won the Grand Prix-derby double.

Part-owner Terry Henderson admitted to having concerns when Rawiller put the accelerator down 800m from home on Brambles.

‘‘I was a bit worried but I know Brad well and he’s a tremendous judge of pace and track conditions,’’ Henderson said. ‘‘But I didn’t think he would go so far out from home. It was a little surprise but we’ll take it.’’

Trainer Roger James’ gamble to cross the Tasman with Red Shift paid off when the 3-year-old fought on bravely. ‘‘We brought him here for the Queensland Derby and this was a real pressure race for him,’’ James said.

‘‘He not only had to secure a start but he had to show me he was up to being a Derby horse. He was under pressure 750m from home but he never shirked his task.’’

Meanwhile, the John O’sheatrained Sea Siren has become the first 3-year-old filly to win the Doomben 10,000, beating local star Buffering in yesterday’s Group 1 feature in Brisbane.

Ridden by Jim Cassidy, Sea Siren rallied in the final 50m to get the better of Buffering, with Temple of Boom edging his stablemate Spirit Of Boom for third.

Sea Siren has now claimed the first two legs of the Brisbane sprint triple crown, the BTC Cup and the Doomben 10,000, with the final leg the Stradbroke Handicap next month.

‘‘It’s a wonderful achievement for a wonderful filly,’’ O’shea said. ‘‘To beat a great horse like Buffering who has been punching around with Black Caviar and those horses in Melbourne is fantastic.’’