Mepunga Warrior has donned the ‘war paint’ and is ready for battle!
He’ll lead the charge in the $57,500 Group 2 McKenna Memorial final (595m) at ‘Premier Racing’ at Sandown Park on Thursday night.
Trained at Anakie by Jeff Britton, Mepunga Warrior – owned by breeding doyen Barry Smith – finished seventh to Christo Bale in last year’s final.
But roll on 12 months and Britton says, “he’s a little bit stronger and maybe he’s got a little more track sense”.
“As soon as you see it (Box 7), you’re hoping for some miracle getting through the field.”
The middle-distance ‘gladiator’ was brave in his heat, getting his rivals to ‘surrender’ in 33.98sec (Best) – carving around three and a half lengths off his 34.19sec previous best.
It was his 19th win (with 15 seconds and 11 thirds) from 65 starts. He’s three from nine over 595m at SP.
Mepunga Warrior (Box 7) will chase a $40,000 bounty in the final – Race 8, 8.41pm – and would catapult his earnings to $243,865 if victorious.
Amazingly, Mepunga Warrior is a $6.50 quote on TAB. The $3.30 equal favourites are Aston Ulysses and Stout Monelli.
An extremely versatile type, Mepunga Warrior (Mar ’19 Fernando Bale x Mepunga Rosie) was runner-up in last year’s G1 Hume Cup (600m) and third in this year’s G1 Rookie Rebel (600m) – both at The Meadows.
Last year, he was also runner-up in the Speed Star (600m) and third in the Pink Diamond Distance (660m), and a finalist in the G2 Warrnambool Cup.
However, given his impressive CV, Britton is somewhat circumspect about Mepunga Warrior’s chances in the final – particularly from box seven.
“He was boxed a lot better than he has been in his heat – the inside (Box 2) was a bonus.
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“But he’ll need a clear run going through the first corner in the final, and I can’t see that happening.
“As soon as you see it (Box 7), you’re hoping for some miracle getting through the field. But on the flip side, he’s been very consistent and is a very good chaser.”
Pawnote: Britton also has the second reserve – Do It. Other heat winners were: Stout Monelli (34.06sec) and Rufus Scrimgeour (34.23sec).
WATCH: Middle-distance marvel MEPUNGA WARRIOR (B2) sets the McKenna Memorial heats time standard with a sub-34sec display.
Peter Quilty has more than three decades of experience as assistant editor of Victorian Greyhound Weekly. He was editor of GRV monthly magazine The Adviser (2001-09) and owner/publisher of Australian Greyhound Monthly. He also served on the selection panel for the inaugural GRV ‘Hall of Fame’ inductees and for several years was an adjudicator on the Victorian GOTY. He’s also published greyhound racing yearbooks and wrote the ‘Bold Trease’ video script.
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