The miserable weather that hit Hastings ahead of Saturday’s eagerly anticipated Arrowfield Stud Plate Day led to track downgrades, high-profile late scratchings and plenty of disappointment, but Lisa Latta was less fazed than most.
The Awapuni trainer’s runners mastered the testing conditions through the early part of the card, winning three of the first five races. Lantern Way took top billing with his big win in the Gr.2 Animal Health Direct Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m), but Old Town Road and Diss Is Dramatic set the tone beforehand with two stylish victories within the space of the first three races.
Latta has Old Town Road at the peak of his powers in his current preparation, winning an open handicap at Awapuni last weekend and backing up seven days later to deliver a repeat result in Saturday’s Oaklane Stables Chaff Premier (1300m).
Ridden by apprentice jockey Lily Sutherland, Old Town Road tracked the front-running El Vencedor before angling out towards the centre of the track in the home straight.
In what developed into a four-horse slog to the finish between Old Town Road, El Vencedor, Clever Ruds and Durham Lad, Old Town Road kept lifting and found enough to take a narrow win.
“Lily got him into a really nice position,” Latta said.
“We wanted to keep El Vencedor in our sights all the way, and she did a good job of that. Her two-kilogram claim was a big help, and it was the sort of loose wet track conditions that he loves. We were pretty confident once the rain came today.”
Bred and part-owned by his former trainer Ian Wyeth, Old Town Road has now had a total of 30 starts for seven wins, seven seconds and six thirds. The six-year-old son of El Roca has banked more than $237,000 in prize-money.
“He’s a real warhorse and knows where the line is,” Latta said.
Diss Is Dramatic’s victory in the Hastings Heart of Hawke’s Bay Premier (1600m) was the fourth win of a 15-start career for the Dissident mare, who won the Listed Champagne Stakes (1200m) as a two-year-old and last season’s Gr.3 War Decree Stakes (1600m) as a three-year-old.