Miss Vista reverting back to old tactics for 55 Second Challenge

Miss Vista
The unique looking Miss Vista makes its season debut at Moonee Valley on Friday night in the 55 Second Challenge. Photo: Racing.com

SPEEDY five-year-old mare Miss Vista makes its season debut in the 55 Second Challenge at Moonee Valley this Friday night.

The social media star has made headlines throughout its career due to the unique markings on its face and punters rallied around the daughter of Show a Heart which hasn’t started at longer odds than $4.60 in its last five starts.

Since winning fresh up at Caulfield in April, Miss Vista has been the beaten favourite at odds of $2.30, $3.90 and $3 – which has prompted Osborne to revert back to front-running tactics after trying something different last preparation.

“We decided to try rider her more conservatively and I don’t think that worked,” Osborne told Horsebetting.com.au. “I think she’s better off rolling along at a speed she’s comfortable with and if they catch her, they catch her.

“I don’t think she chases as well as she leads.”

The preparation has also been different this time around with Osborne putting plenty of work into the quality mare, but avoiding jump outs and trials in the process.

“She’s trained on pretty good this preparation and she seems in good shape,” Osborne said. “She’s been down the track a little different than last time.

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“She hasn’t had any jump outs or trials this time so she comes in pretty fresh, but she’s done plenty of work and she’ll run well.”

The winner of four from eight starts might have been defeated at its last three starts, but it ran into the likes of Grey Street and Ability which have stakes race credentials.

“We ran into a couple of smart ones, possibly black type horses that she might not be,” Osborne said. “But, we’ll go back to letting her roll along at her own speed and building up some sort of lead and holding on if she can.”

Osborne isn’t targeting the 55 Second Challenge Series over the spring/summer period for Miss Vista, instead he’s using it as a starting point before potentially stepping it up over more distance.

“It’s just a starting point at the moment,” he said. “We might have to get out over more ground to control the races a bit more.

“As she’s gotten older and matured more, she seems to be a little more controllable earlier on – that would be ideal if she could control them.”

Osborne hasn’t devised a plan for Miss Vista this campaign and will instead monitor its rating, especially if it wins one of its upcoming starts.

“I haven’t got any major targets. If she runs well at her next couple of starts she might jump up in the ratings and we’ll have to be careful where we race her,” Osborne said.

“She’s a nice fast horse, but she’s no super star and she might find her point in the ratings, so we’ll take it race by race.”

Linda Meech regains the ride having ridden it to victory at Caulfield earlier this year.

“She’s ridden it a couple of times and rode it in a gallop a couple of weeks ago at Kilmore. She also won on its last preparation,” Osborne added.

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