Space Rider emerged as a Caulfield Guineas contender with a first-up success for Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr at Moonee Valley, underlining the colt’s promise after a patient build-up.

The three-year-old launched his spring preparation with victory in the Mick Gleeson Plate (1200m), Beau Mertens guiding the $8.50 chance home strongly to defeat Wise Inlaw ($20) by three-quarters of a length, with Estremo ($5.50) in third.

Price said the colt’s Brisbane runs as a two-year-old showed glimpses of ability but his second start could be overlooked. “He wasn’t right at start number two. We were messing around with blood pictures that week and being an immature horse, he didn’t turn up that day. So, you just forget that run and judge him on today and what he did first-up.”

The stable now has a clear plan: the Exford Plate, then the Stutt Stakes, before the ultimate target, the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m). “He’s a lovely big, lengthy horse. He’s got mile written all over him and he’s a lovely horse,” Price said.

Space Rider had done much of his preparation in Sydney before shifting south. “We did have him in at Rosehill last week, but I said to the connections the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the grass is green,” Price explained. “He did a good job to win over 1200 metres around here and I think he will be better at 1400 metres and a mile. The Sydney stable has been the making of this horse. We can work him up there and if we need to, we can swing them back up.”