FIRST-UP from a 42-week break since the 2014 Hong Kong Sprint, the eight-year-old speedster Buffering reveled in dispatching a new wave of challengers in last Friday week’s Group 1 Moir Stakes. The 1,000-metre scamper under lights at Moonee Valley has been a happy hunting ground for Robert Heathcote’s wonderfully managed Mossman gelding, this being his third win in the event and fifth from 10 starts at the track.

Powering out of the gates, Buffering found the rail to lead, hit the bend then kicked again. Home by a half-length with regular jockey Damien Browne up, Buffering defeated the Dubawi gelding Ball Of Muscle, a half-brother to Terravista with the Holy Roman Emperor mare Angelic Light third.