A shot at the $1 million Magic Millions Guineas goes on the line for Reigning Meteor at Flemington.
The Matthew Williams-trained three-year-old is nominated for next month’s rich sales-restricted event at the Gold Coast and his performance in Saturday’s Fiesta Star Handicap (1200m) will go a long way to determining whether he makes the trip.
“He would want to be winning or only be beaten by a very small margin on Saturday if we’re going to consider going up there,” Williams said.
“He needs to really run well and also settle well because he would be going to 1400 metres at the Gold Coast.
“If he wins we’d certainly be giving it a lot of thought over the weekend.”
Reigning Meteor has won three of his eight starts but is yet to taste city success.
The Northern Meteor colt finished fourth in his only Flemington appearance on Melbourne Cup day, hitting the line nicely in a 1000m straight race for three-year-olds won by Risen From Doubt.
He then started favourite in the Magic Millions 3YO Classic at Ballarat last start over 1100m, finishing fourth in the race won by Murt The Flirt.
Williams believes Reigning Meteor, to be ridden by 2kg claiming apprentice Damien Thornton, can make his presence felt on Saturday but said the query is whether the colt might be coming towards the end of his preparation.
Reigning Meteor is at $15 with the Robert Smerdon-trained The Bowler favourite at $5.50.
“He’s been in work a while but he continues to do well,” Williams said.
“I thought the Ballarat run wasn’t quite up to his Flemington run so I’m hoping going back to the straight suits him because he seemed to handle it well.
“Hopefully he can get some nice cover, maybe two or three pairs back and he should be hitting the line pretty strongly with no weight on his back.”
