News

Trust rewarded with Gold

9th Jan 2014

Racing Victoria - by James Tzaferis - Thursday, 9 January 2013

Emerging VOBIS Gold pin up Trust In A Gust is giving owner Bill Gribble his greatest thrill in racing.

Bill Gribble’s smile could easily have been missed amongst the throng of clapping and cheering owners in the Caulfield mounting yard following Trust In A Gust’s win in the Harris Walker VOBIS Gold Carat (1200m) on Saturday.

While overjoyed with Trust In A Gust’s success, a win that took the progressive son of Keep The Faith’s racetrack earnings above $300,000, Gribble had let his mind wander back to a piece of advice given to him at Donald on a lazy Sunday afternoon in 2005.

“My first horse that I ever owned was called Winjeal and when he first won I was sitting beside this old bloke who asked me how many horses I’d had,” Gribble said.

“When I told him this was my first one and he’d won at his first start this guy just told me to savour the moment because wins aren’t easily come by in the racing game.

“I own quite a few horses and Trust In A Gust is the one that’s given me the biggest thrill.

“It’s unbelievable and it’s what every racehorse owner strives to achieve or be a part of.”

The win in Saturday’s $180,000 feature, a leg of the VOBIS Gold Premier Race Series restricted to horses nominated for Victoria’s lucrative VOBIS Gold scheme, was the fifth of the three-year-old’s eight start career.

It followed a similarly lucrative victory in the $130,000 VOBIS Gold Eureka Stockade (1400m) at Ballarat in November and Gribble said connections were well and truly reaping the rewards of trainer Darren Weir’s decision to nominate the horse for both Super VOBIS and VOBIS Gold.

Click here to relive all the excitement of Trust In A Gust's VOBIS Gold Eureka Stockade win

And Gribble isn’t stopping there with the plan to now target the next race in the VOBIS Gold Premeir Race Series, the $180,000 VOBIS Gold Star (1500m) under lights at Moonee Valley on 24 January.

“Super VOBIS and VOBIS Gold have just proven to be fantastic for the horse and for the owners and it’s just been a magnificent run,” Gribble said.

“Because the horse looked like he could get up and going as a two-year-old Darren Weir put out the suggestion to the owners to pay up for VOBIS Gold because he could see this was a horse that could potentially benefit.

“After speaking with Darren at the races on the weekend it seems he could be right in the money again for the 1500 metre feature at Moonee Valley feature in three weeks time.

“If he can get up and win that Moonee Valley race it will be amazing because how many three-year-olds are running around in that level of restricted class with over $400,000 in prizemoney.”

While Gribble, a member of the Ballarat Turf Club committee, has the horse to thank for the winning ride, it was the faith in the keen eye of his daughter, Ballarat trainer Rebecca Gribble, that saw him purchase his share in the galloper.

The pair identified Trust In A Gust at the 2012 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale and while his purchase price of $45,000 exceeded Gribble’s budget, his daughter encouraged him to take an interest in the horse with Weir.

“My daughter and I went to the sales because I buy a few horses for my daughter who has her trainer’s license and we actually found Trust In A Gust,” Gribble said.

“Rebecca worked for Tony Vasil for a while and he was fantastic to her and took her to the sales and told her what to look for in a horse. He really educated her well.

“I only had $30,000 available to spend on a horse at that particular time and I thought if we could snag him for that we would have a massive buy but I got knocked out of the bidding and Darren Weir obviously ended up buying him.

“We were driving home and my daughter thought I should really buy a share in the horse because we both really loved him and she thought he would be an early runner.

“I had a think about it and came to the decision that I’d buy a share out of interest sake and he’s just proven to be everything that my daughter picked him out to be.”

More information on Super VOBIS and VOBIS Gold is available here