Outsider Vinevale going in search of black type

Ruakaka trainers Chris Gibbs and Michelle Bradley are shooting high in a bid to carry on from a flood of winners on their home track last Sunday.

After producing five winners and a host of placegetters at their local meeting, Gibbs and Bradley are coming in from left field in an attempt to get black type with Vinevale in today’s main race, the group two Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa.

Vinevale is rated the outsider in the weight-for-age sprint by TAB bookmakers, being at odds of better than 80-1, but Gibbs believes she is worth her place in the field.

“She’s due to go to stud and there’s not much around for her after this until October onwards so we’re rolling the dice to try and get her some black type,” Gibbs said.

“We’ve only had her for three runs and she’s won them all. I know this is a big step up but she deserves a crack at it.”

Vinevale, a six-year-old daughter of Flying Spur, won three races from the Matamata stable of Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards with the last of those wins being on the Te Rapa track.

She joined the Ruakaka stable after finishing third behind Big Mike at Te Rapa in May and has done all her recent racing on her new home track, winning open 1400m events in her last two outings.

“She’s one of those horses that a change of environment seems to have really helped,” Gibbs said. “She does 99 per cent of her work on the beach and she loves it.

“Whether or not she’s up to the class on Saturday, that’s something I’m keen to find out while she’s doing so well.”

But Gibbs is worried about the track if it gets heavy and may scratch Vinevale this morning.

“She can get away in it up to a slow track, but if it’s heavy on Saturday morning we’ll pull her out and wait for the open sprint up here in a couple of weeks. I just hope we don’t have to do that.”