Williams knew the horse only had one quick sprint in him so waited until the race was almost beyond him before asking Thermal Current for an effort.

"He had to be at his best under the conditions to win and guess what, he was," Williams said.

Thermal Current had shown Weir some signs he was in good form this preparation with a fourth place on Cox Plate day but he was not exactly pencilling in a win.

"I was happy to have him in the race but they are 30-1 for a reason," Weir said.

"He has been running well."

Thermal Current has now won eight races in 53 starts but pushed his prizemoney above $800,000 and Weir said he kept the plans pretty simple for the horse.

"You have only got to win one a preparation with these sorts of horses," Weir said.

The win gave Craig Williams a running double after he landed the previous race on Cochada, admitting that he had not started the day in such good form.

"The plan was to ride him patient," Williams said.

He took Thermal Current along the outside barrier in the 1000-metre race but only reached the unlucky Kaepernick, ridden by Tye Angland, in the last stride with Fell Swoop finishing third in a blanket finish.

Thermal Current's dam Soaressa won a listed race for Peter Moody before retiring to stud in 2009 with the eight-year-old by the successful stallion Exceed And Excel.

He has now been placed in four of his seven starts down the Flemington straight over 1000 metres.