Riccarton’s Gr.3 War Decree Stakes (1600m) has played a key part in Lisa Latta’s Group One preparations in the past, and the Awapuni trainer is using the same formula again with Lantern Way on Saturday.
The War Decree Stakes is run over the same course and distance as both the New Zealand 2000 Guineas and the New Zealand 1000 Guineas. Latta won the race in 2014 with Platinum Witness, who went on to run fourth in the 2000 Guineas before winning the 1000 Guineas.
Latta also won the War Decree last year with Diss Is Dramatic, who later performed below her best in the 2000 Guineas but was found to have an elevated heart rate.
This year Latta’s runner is Lantern Way, who heads into Saturday on a high following a career-best performance to win the Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) at Hastings on September 30.
That was the first win of a six-start career for the Satono Aladdin gelding, who had previously placed in the Gr.3 Taranaki 2YO Classic (1200m) and the Listed Wanganui Guineas (1200m).
“He ran a top race at Hawke’s Bay and I’ve been really happy with him since then,” Latta said. “He galloped very nicely on Tuesday morning.
“This is his first big trip away, so we thought it would be a good idea to get him down there nice and early on Wednesday. This race should set him up well for the 2000 Guineas.”
Lantern Way’s strong finish at the end of 1400m in his last-start Guineas win gives Latta confidence that the step up to 1600m on Saturday should work in Lantern Way’s favour. She is also unfazed by the prospect of significantly different track conditions – Riccarton was rated a Soft5 on Friday morning, while the Hawke’s Bay Guineas was run on a deteriorating Heavy9.
“I don’t think the step up to 1600m is going to be any problem for him at all, and a firmer track should suit him even better than what he ran on in the Hawke’s Bay Guineas,” she said. “All the indications that he’s given us are that he doesn’t handle the wet ground as well as he goes on dry.”
Lantern Way is currently rated an $8 chance on the TAB’s fixed-odds market for the New Zealand 2000 Guineas on November 11. He shares second favouritism with War Decree Stakes rival Trobriand, with the undefeated Crocetti dominating the market at $1.70.
Latta’s other runner at Riccarton on Saturday is Charms Star in the Listed Sothys Spring Classic (2000m). Runner-up in both the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and the Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) as a three-year-old, and the winner of last year’s Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes (2000m), the Per Incanto mare has been well below her best in her first two starts of this preparation.
Latta is hoping to see her regain some form ahead of the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) on November 18, for which she is rated an $18 chance. Tina Comignaghi will ride the six-year-old in Saturday’s $80,000 race, in which she will carry the equal minimum weight of 53kg.
“She gets in with a nice light weight on Saturday,” Latta said. “She’s been a bit disappointing this time in. She missed the kick at Hastings, then pulled quite hard all the way at Hawera on a track that was much wetter than she likes.
“I’m looking forward to seeing her back on top of the ground on Saturday.”