Mark Moroney, who won the 2022 Masters Meteor with Fire Legend after taking out the minor placing with that dog in Angry Blizzard's final four months earlier, is banking on Black Firebrand becoming a contender for this year's $100,000 to the winner Wentworth Park final, to be held on October 13.
"Black Firebrand turns four in September and while he might not be as good as Fire Legend, he is going great and has had three wins and a second from his past five starts,'' Moroney said.
"When he won at Wauchope in March, Black Firebrand covered the 457m in 25.40, just .04sec outside Fire Legend's track record.
"He has run the Wentworth Park 520m in 29.80 so while he will have stiff opposition in the Masters Meteor, Black Firebrand should be competitive.''
Moroney is riding high at present courtesy of the first litter whelped by Fire On Ice, a winner of 22 races and a litter sister to his former champion Fire Legend.
"Shine And Fire, by Shima Shine from Fire On Ice, won over 300m at Casino last Thursday while her litter brothers Ice To Fire and Marcus Fire won 350m heats of a maiden series at Grafton on Sunday,'' Moroney said.
"Another member of the litter, Firenze, finished second, beaten less than a length in another heat and they will be in the final on Friday.
"These pups are only 18 months old and because they were only broken in between April and early May I had to push them a bit to get them up to 350m racing.
"Marcus Fire broke in fastest and has always been the quickest in trials but Ice To Fire is the big improver and she clocked a smart 20.09 in her Grafton heat while Marcus Fire only recorded 20.25.
"I trained Fire On Ice for her owner, my mate Grahame Blunt, and she looks like being a terrific producer.
"She has a second litter, nine months old, sired by Aston Rupee, and Ray Borda, who raced that dog, bought three of them from Grahame for $36,000.
"Fire On Ice is due to whelp her third litter, this time to Bernardo.''
Golden Easter Egg winner Simply Limelight pulled up well after his unplaced run in last Friday's Brisbane Cup and is on track for a shot at the National Sprint Championship.
Heats will be held at Wentworth Park on August 5 with the state final on August 10 and the grand final at Melbourne's The Meadows on August 26.
"From box six he just couldn't find a run at any stage in the Brisbane Cup but he is jumping out of his skin,'' Simply Limelight's trainer Peter Rodgers said.
"He won't have many races between now and the Championship heats but I will probably nominate him a 520m race at Wentworth Park next week.''
Palawa King took out the $175,000 to the winner Queensland Cup over 710m at Albion Park last Friday but trainer Jack Smith is worried the dog might not be drawn in the NSW edition of the National Distance Championship.
No heats have been programmed, instead the 720m race at Wentworth Park will be a "one off" on August 10 to decide the NSW representative in the national final at The Meadows on August 26.
"Palawa King is still a fifth grader in 720m races at Wenty and I' m concerned that if several fourth graders are nominated for the August 10 race he won't get into the field,'' Smith said.
"In the meantime I'll probably freshen him up with a 520m race at Wentworth Park next week.''
