Southland trainer Alister Black will head across the Otago border four days later than he originally intended after having primed his open-class star for a big run in the rained-out Central Otago Cup at Omakau.
After shining brightly at the New Zealand Cup Carnival with two outstanding wins, a wet grass track is the last place a star such as Vintage Cheddar should be racing.
But with the Cromwell track in good order considering the amount of rain that has fallen in Central Otago over the past week and weather websites forecasting a largely fine day, Cromwell racegoers are set to see the Southland star in full flight.
"He was pretty well bang on the money for Omakau to be fair," Black said.
"He had a week off after [New Zealand] Cup Week and he has come back real good."
Vintage Cheddar was far from ready to compete against his open-class counterparts when returning from a short spell.
The 6yr-old had thrived, which prompted Black to give him three workouts to get him back to race fitness.
"He had put on a hell of a lot of weight during his week off and I got a bit of a shock," Black said.
"So that is why he has had three workouts this time in, and because there have been no races for him, either."
"But I thought I better get this horse trimmed down."
Vintage Cheddar had just one start on a grass track before today’s 2600m feature.
The Junior-Free-For-All winner paced roughly in the early stages of the Gore race before he was badly held up in the straight.
Black does not expect the grass surface at Cromwell to be an issue for his 40m backmarker if it is a reasonably dry condition.
"He has come a long way since that run at Gore."
Should the track become heavy, the trainer said he would consider scratching his horse.
Apart from Vintage Cheddar, only one other horse won twice at the New Zealand Cup Carnival — Humble Ladd.
He clashes with the Black-trained Get Lucky in today’s feature trot at Cromwell.
Get Lucky is more proven on grass tracks than his stablemate and comes into his 2600m assignment after running second to race rival Tweedledee in the Gore Trotters’ Cup.
"He is really good on grass, he loves it," Black said.
Get Lucky has the major advantage over main rivals The Dominator (30m) and Tweedledee (10m) of starting from the front line.
Black is not reading too much into that edge and has a lot of respect for his horse’s opposition
"It will be interesting for him."
"Master Lavros and Andy Hall are scratched, so that helps.
"But The Dominator is still in there and he is a class horse of the field now and he will be hard to roll.
"I don’t think it would be any disgrace if Get Lucky ran second to him."
Brad Williamson will drive both Vintage Cheddar and Get Lucky at Cromwell today.
