Group One performer Ginner Hart is something of a surprise runner for Saturday's Chanui Organic Green Tea Handicap (1200m) at Trentham, but as always with Wanganui trainer Alexander Fieldes a lot of thought has gone into the preparation.
Fieldes brought the seven-year-old back into training on January 1 with an eye to tackling autumn feature sprints at Hastings and Te Rapa, but firm tracks prevented him from starting in either.
"He's a Volksraad that loves wet ground and he can jar up on firm tracks," he said.
"It's been four years since he raced in anything less than a $40,000 race, but those kind of races generally aren't in winter. He's rising eight and he's never had more than five starts in a season since he was three.
"The only race in winter for him that's worth more than $40,000 is the Opunake Cup at $65,000 and you can't go into that fresh up, so the game plan is to run at Trentham on Saturday to get ready for Te Rapa in three weeks."
Whether Ginner Hart progresses to the Opunake Cup (1400m) at New Plymouth on July 23 after that depends on how he performs at Trentham and Te Rapa first - and whether he shows he's capable of handling deep winter tracks.
"You would expect him to need the run this weekend and be more ready for Te Rapa but he's always raced well fresh," Fieldes said.
"He's the best horse in there by a mile. There's nothing there that would run third in a Gr.1 Makfi Stakes first-up for eight months.
"He's got 60 kilos and he's drawn the outside barrier but if he was someone else's horse, I'd look at the form and say 'that should be winning'."
A winner of seven of his 28 starts, Ginner Hart has won four of his six starts fresh-up into a new campaign.
However, TAB bookmakers installed the galloper as a $12 outsider as seventh favourite in the eight-horse field, with the North And South a $3 favourite ahead of Salamanca at $3.30.
Should he progress to Fieldes' satisfaction, Ginner Hart will be nominated for the Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton in early August.
