CRACK Victorian trainer Jeff Britton landed the 2025 Masters Meteor final when Mepunga Smokey led throughout to win by four lengths, but he has declared Mepunga Reward, his candidate this year, to be "a bit quicker.''
Mepunga Reward has box four in heat one of this year's Meteor at Wentworth Park on Thursday night and is all the rage after trouncing talented kennelmate Weblec Joel in a sizzling 29.41 trial at the track on September 19.
"Mepunga Smokey was a very good dog, but Mepunga Reward is a bit quicker.'' Britton said.
"And while Mepunga Smokey won the Meteor as a four-year-old, Mepunga Reward is four-and-a-half.”
"On top of that Mepunga Reward is just back from a stint at stud during which he served 20 bitches.''
Hardest for Mepunga Reward to beat on Thursday is undoubtedly Jet Boots Tommy, who has box eight.
The Michael Edwards-trained dog wore the pink rug when he pulled off a boilover all-the-way win in a tidy 29.89 at Wentworth Park on September 12 and possesses the early zip to be the pacemaker again.
Rosa Marie set up a huge early lead when run down by Kingsbrae Brett at Wentworth Park on September 24 but should strip fitter when she exits box eight in Thursday night's second Masters Meteor heat.
Trainer Donna Campbell said: "Rosa Marie was coming off a couple of 400m races and a post-to-post slip at Wenty before that last run so with that 520m race under her belt she should get to the line better.”
"It's fortunate Rosa Marie looks pretty in pink because Thursday night will be the fifth consecutive occasion when she has had box eight.”
"She has had a 472m trial at Bulli since her September 24 race at Wentworth Park and in that hit-out Rosa Marie clocked a tick over 26 seconds flat, which is pretty smart.”
Strongest of the four Meteor heats looks to be heat three featuring Kingsbrae Brett in box one, South Australian star Kisauni in three and eight-time Wentworth Park winner Unleash In Miami in box seven.
Kingsbrae Brett is unbeaten in two starts but recorded by far his quickest time of 29.74 when he came from box seven on September 24.
The Jacob Northfield-trained dog appeared to relish being drawn wide so may need luck from box one.
Thursday's third heat features two first Sydney appearance of prolific winning South Australian dog Kisauni, trained by Ryan Tugwell at Finniss, 70km from Adelaide.
"Kisauni has box three and he is well placed there.” Tugwell said.
"I recently sent him over to Kayla Coleman for a trial at Wenty and Kisauni clocked 30.16.”
"But he is a real race dog and usually goes better in races than he does in solo trials.”
"Despite his age Kisauni has been in career best form and in his past two Angle Park wins he clocked 5.16 and 5.18 first sections, they don't go much faster than that.”
Kisauni has had an astonishing 138 races for 47 wins and 48 placings, at tracks as far afield as The Meadows, Sale and Ballarat in Victoria and Gawler, Angle Park and Murray Bridge in SA.
But while Unleash In Miami's trainer Ike McCorkindale prefers an inside draw for his dog, Unleash In Miami possesses brilliant early pace and looks like the likely leader on Thursday.
Unleash In Miami has won seven of his 14 appearances from the outside draws, boxes seven and eight.
Easiest of the Masters Meteor heats looks to be heat four where the Jason Magri-trained Speedy Pie, who has box seven, stands out.
Speedy Pie has won nine races at Wentworth Park and none of her rivals on Thursday has been able to come anywhere her fastest first split time of 5.31.
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