All eyes were on standout Satono Aladdin gelding Tokyo Tycoon in the lead-up to Saturday’s Gr.2 Animal Health Direct Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) at Hastings, but another son of the same stallion stepped out of his shadow and stole the show.
Lantern Way shook free of his maiden status with a stunning upset win, defying 20-to-one odds in outstanding style.
While Tokyo Tycoon’s wheels were spinning in the Heavy9 track and he struggled to make an impression from midfield down the straight, Lantern Way launched a powerful finish from third-last and went straight past him.
Lantern Way and jockey Jonathan Riddell had moved into third passing the 200m mark, and the Lisa Latta-trained gelding pinned his ears back and kept advancing, finishing over the top of Solidify and Burn To Shine to win by half a length.
“That’s a good way to break maidens,” Riddell said. “He’s got a lot of talent and has always been a really nice horse.”
Lantern Way was bred by Rich Hill Thoroughbreds, who stand Satono Aladdin for a service fee of $45,000.
Rich Hill offered Lantern Way as a yearling in Book 2 of Karaka 2022 last year, where Latta secured him for $40,000. His six-start career has now produced a win and three placings, earning more than $136,000 in stakes.
Although this was his first win, he had previously shown black-type quality with second placings in last season’s Gr.3 Taranaki 2YO Classic (1200m) and last month’s Listed Wanganui Guineas (1200m).
“He looked pretty ordinary in the Wanganui Guineas – his coat just wasn’t quite there,” Latta said. “We elected to give him the five weeks between runs. He had a nice jumpout at Levin in between times, where he ran in an open-class heat. He’s only a maiden, but he came from last and went through them just like that.
“He’s a pretty good horse, this. I was just a little bit concerned about today’s track conditions, but he obviously handled it.
“Craig McNeill has put together a fantastic bunch of owners to race this horse, and it’s great to get this result for them.”
Lantern Way is nominated for the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) on November 11, and the TAB now rates him an $8 equal third favourite for the Riccarton classic.
“A lot of his owners live down south, so it would be pretty special for them if we got him down there for the Guineas,” Latta said. “But obviously the horse comes first. We’ll get him through this and then go from there.”
The time of 1:27.19 clearly illustrated how persistent rain through the early part of the day had affected the Hastings track. It was the slowest Hawke’s Bay Guineas since Finnegan Fox clocked 1:27.28 in 1989.
Tokyo Tycoon’s jockey Opie Bosson believed those track conditions were the undoing of the $1.40 favourite, who finished fifth and almost eight lengths from the winner.
“He just didn’t feel comfortable in that ground, so that’s what I’d put it down to,” Bosson said.