A slick beginning enabled the Emma Stewart-trained Meteor Moth to complete back-to-back wins at Melton in the Mimosa Homes Pace on Saturday night.
Sent out a $3.60 second elect behind Ghost Of Time ($3.20 fav), Meteor Moth had sufficient early speed to hold out the favourite who was subsequently caught in the breeze.
Mark Pitt allowed Meteor Moth to bowl down the back in a 27.7 quarter before producing a kick on the turn to score comfortably by seven metres from Ghost Of Time and the fast-finishing Justalittlesip.
Pitt said Meteor Moth felt like he was ready for battle pre-race.
“He was sharp in the warm-up, he was last week too and tonight he was sharp again,” Pitt said.
“I know he can get off the gate, but the right horse has got to turn up and he turned up tonight.
“He had his head up in the score up and I was a bit worried because he hadn’t done that before, but once the gate got rolling he was in rhythm and ready to rock.”
Pitt said the winner was travelling down the back.
“He can be a bit green this fellow and can take a bit of driving, but I clicked him up a couple of times down the back and he felt pretty strong,” he said.
The lightly-raced five-year-old is building an enviable strike rate, winning 10 of his 19 starts after saluting at six of his first seven including in the SA Derby.
Jackie Barker landed a winning double at the meeting after Popcornfriday ($5.50) upset the $1.85 favourite Isolation in the Eco Timber Group Pace.
Barker was content to allow Isolation to cross Popcornfriday shortly after the start to await her chance along the sprint lane.
Popcornfriday peeled off the pegs around the home turn and the seven-year-old quickly reeled in the leader before surging away to score by four metres in a mile rate of 1:54.
“I knew we might have to do a little bit of work to cross early, but once we landed in the trail, I was pretty confident he was going to get a great run,” Barker said.
“I was confident he was going to give James (Herbertson) a shake, but that horse has been going well so he did a good job to run it down.”
The winner is trained by veteran horseman Kevin Sandiford, who celebrated the first Saturday win at headquarters of his career.
“I gave Greg Hargeaves a mare I had and I got out of the game for a while, but I got bored and I asked Greg if he had any horses up at his place and I picked this bloke out,” Sandiford said.
Earlier in the night, Barker partnered the Aaron Dunn-trained Komodo to victory in the Logical Staffing Solutions Pace.
After settling midfield in the running line, Komodo was asked to improve three wide with 800 metres to travel by Barker and the five-year-old sustained a long run to score by a neck from Kia Ora Beauty in a mile rate of 1:53.2.
The Andy Gath-trained mare Pinnie chalked up her first win in open age class when she led all the way in the 2Construct Trot.
Kate Gath said she was able to dictate the terms of the race to suit herself.
