Group I days return for Bradley, Latta
LITTLE in racing can match the thrill and satisfaction that comes with a Group I victory.
It requires an element of good fortune, as well as skill, and only a handful of individuals achieve Group I wins on anything like a regular basis.
Which is why trainer Lisa Latta and rider Darryl Bradley will treasure their triumph with Platinum Witness in the $300,000 One Thousand Guineas at Riccarton on Saturday.
Latta and Bradley are proven performers. Bradley has won a jockeys’ premiership and more than 1000 races, while Latta won the 2014 trainers’ premiership and is approaching 700 career wins.
Yet there had been literally thousands of runners and rides since their previous Group I win.
There are more than 330 licensed trainers in New Zealand, and another 500 who are either permit to train holders or classified as owner-trainers, and around 150 jockeys – all competing for the 22 Group I races in New Zealand, with a chance of an occasional crack at Group I races in Australia.
It was the first Group I for Latta since Mikki Street won the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day 2006 and Bradley’s previous Group I had come on Rodin, in the Captain Cook Stakes in October 2004.
Though Bradley had been first past the post on Viennetta in the 2006 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Te Aroha, before being relegated to third.
Bradley, 48, has won more than 130 races for Latta and was delighted to notch a Group I for the stable.
“Lisa has been the backbone of my career and gives me rides week in and week out,” Bradley said yesterday. “To repay her for that support with a Group I win was a great thrill.
“She’s a remarkable woman. She never complains [about her riders]. If you come in and say sorry about that [after a poor ride], that’s it and she moves on. You don’t get, ‘ You aren’t going to ride for me anymore’.
“If you ride a good race, she is the first one to come up and say, ‘Thank you, that was a good ride’.
“It [riding] is not an easy job and we don’t go out and ride poor races on purpose.”
Bradley has now won five Group I races, with the first three
Trains Platinum Witness. coming on Avedon (Bayer Classic and Two Thousand Guineas) and Sapio (Doomben Cup).
“They are the pinnacle of racing and it’s great to get another one,” Bradley said.
“It puts you in the limelight again and that’s what you need in racing – exposure.
“Group I races are hard to get but you might only be one phone call away from your next one.
“I also had quite a few placings between wins and had three seconds – in the New Zealand Oaks, Auckland Cup and Captain Cook Stakes – in the same [2010-11] season.”
Bradley’s tally of black-type wins is now 90 and he has made a mark at Riccarton, where his wins also include two New Zealand Cups, on Sapio and Showcause. He has been riding for 32 years but has no plans to pack his saddles way.
“My health is good, my fitness is good and I have no problems out on the track. I enjoy it every time I get on a horse.”
Bradley has spent almost all his career in New Zealand, but has ridden winners in Australia, Malaysia and Mauritius, and had mounts in Japan and Hong Kong.
He has ridden Platinum Witness in each of her seven races as a three-year-old and has no doubt that the California Dane filly will cope with a middle distance.
“I do think she will see out the Oaks distance [2400m]. She has always shown so much promise and handles most tracks.”
Platinum Witness had run fourth in the Two Thousand Guineas a week earlier and was the only One Thousand Guineas runner who was backing up from the first day.
“She handled it really well,” Bradley said. “We decided to ride her a bit colder [on Saturday] and I got her to relax a bit more than she had on the first day. She was able to show a serious sprint and was dominant over the last bit.”
Platinum Witness, who is raced by a long-standing partnership comprising Lincoln Farms and Neville McAlister, will now have a break, before being prepared for the Wellington Cup meeting.