Racing: Latta targets both Ellerslie features

Five To Midnight carries 60kgs to win the Stayers Cup on Karaka Million night. Photo / Trish Dunell

Bad barriers and bad manners are playing on trainer Lisa Latta's mind heading to Ellerslie today.

But now she has broken through for her first major Ellerslie win of the season the Central Districts trainers thinks she has some serious horsepower to target two of the track's great races.

Latta is, of course, no stranger to success at the highest level at Ellerslie, having won a Karaka Million with Fort Lincoln back in 2011 and she added another Karaka race success when Five To Midnight carried 60kgs to win the Stayers Cup three weeks ago.

That turned around a luckless summer for Latta during her Ellerslie excursions, some of which were designed to get her better horses ready for challenges ahead like the $1 million Vodafone NZ Derby on March 2.

Which is exactly what Sir Nate and Platinum Invador are doing in today's $100,000 Avondale Guineas.

The pair sit somewhere in the middle of the market as realistic Derby chances, not with quite the hype of a Cutadeel but having shown enough in vastly different ways to suggest they are worthy contenders.

Add to them Lincoln Falls, who will miss today's race but is on track for the Derby, and Latta could have three in the classic.

"They all deserve a crack at it but I'm disappointed by Platinum Invador's draw today," admits Latta.

"He is a really good stayer but from that wide at that starting point he probably can't go forward so it could be a very hard race for him to get into.

"But the experience here will do him some good for the Derby."

A long-strider with a Derby-level motor, Platinum Invador looks to be on a hiding to nothing in the Guineas whereas stablemate Sir Nate gets a far better draw and a gear change after his last-start Karaka Classic failure.

"He just pulled way, way too hard early last time," says Latta.

"So I have taken the blinkers off this week and I think he will relax better. I am certain he will get the 2100m and the Derby distance as well and from barrier three he should be able to settle handy. So he looks an improver." Good enough to finish third to Madison County in the 2000 Guineas, Sir Nate could be the sneaky place bet in today's Guineas as the race can often be a muddling affair with a prize pot 10 times bigger just two weeks away.

While improved manners and a better draw will be the key to Sir Nate's hopes, another wide draw concerns Latta with Five To Midnight in today's $100,000 Avondale Cup.

One of New Zealand's bravest horses Five To Midnight at least has some company at the top of the handicaps today as he shares the 59kgs with Chance To Dance but he is still giving plenty of promising stayers huge weight advantages.

"It is nice to see him not carrying 60kgs all by himself for once but his weight doesn't bother me as much as his draw," says Latta.

"That means he is probably going to get back and then the tempo becomes important but he was so good last start I know he will turn up and give it his best and with all the racing he has had under his belt the 2400m won't bother him maybe as much as some of the others."