Two former AFL players who lit up the turf had cause to celebrate at Wednesday’s Perth Cup day at Ascot as exciting three-year-old Shmoov Moova lived up to the title with a dazzling success in the opening event.

Dockers legend Antoni Grover and fellow Fremantle gun Ben Cunningham were ecstatic as their prized gelding cruised away with victory and made for a day the two won’t soon forget.

With a party atmosphere pumping on track, Cunningham flagged a big afternoon ahead for the star duo after their $70,000 purchase took the lion’s share of the $80,000 prize.

“Mate, that was an unbelievable experience. To come to Perth Cup day without a horse running is a great day, let alone when you’ve got one that’s half a chance. To win like that, it’s a good day ahead,” Cunningham said.

“We’ve started off the new year with a good bunch of mates and we’ve come here to send it, and now we’re going to be certainly sending it.

Grover lavished praise on the training performance of Simon Miller, widely recognised as one of the best communicators in racing.

“Simon’s done a terrific job and he’s very informative about how the horse is going. He had a few hiccups early as a two-year-old but now we feel like we might have a clean run at it and the future is bright,” Grover said.

Despite heat forcing an evasive change to the meeting making it a twilight fixture, thousands still flocked to WA’s home of racing to lap up the festivities of the new year.

“The timing of this afternoon has been terrific,” Grover said.

Even keen form student Toby Dunn dug his nose out of the form guide to appreciate the vibes on course.

“I don’t know what’s not to love. If you’re not a racing fan, you’re missing out. Love live the punt,” Dunn said.