Big weight no concern for Belardo Boy
Jess de Lautour • July 8th, 2025 4:39 PM • 4 min read
Winter marvel Belardo Boy overcame a clear topweight to collect the 11th victory of his career in the New World Otaki Handicap (1400m) at Ōtaki on Tuesday.
A winner of the Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m) and Gr.3 Metric Mile (1600m) in 2023, and the Listed Opunake Cup (1400m) and Listed AGC Training Stakes (1600m) last term, Belardo Boy has become accustomed to carrying hefty imposts, and Tuesday’s assignment was no exception, with six kilograms to his closest rivals.
Jumping inside the short-priced favourite in Belles Beau, Belardo Boy travelled strongly for apprentice jockey Amber Riddell in the trail of Turnmeon, who led the compact field into the home straight. Belardo Boy cruised up on the inside as his stablemate, Make Time, came into contention on the outer, and the pair entered a dogfight from the 100m.
Belles Beau couldn’t make up ground on the Lisa Latta-trained pair, who went to the line almost in unison, with Belardo Boy sticking his head out to grab the victory by a nose.
Latta was proud of her charge, who hadn’t been sighted since finishing a game second in this year’s AGC Training Stakes in May, where he was ridden by Riddell’s father Jonathan.
“I thought he might have needed the run today, he hasn’t run in a while, but he just thrives on the wet tracks,” she said.
“We’d left him in work because it’s just too wet to put him out in the paddock, so we ticked him over quietly and he’s had a good blow today.
“We’ll put a nom in for the Opunake Cup, then just see how many points they give him and the weight he’ll get there before deciding whether we go or not.”
While an Opunake Cup defence is still on the table, Latta has ruled out returning to Riccarton for a third attempt at the Winter Cup, instead putting her focus to some elite-level targets in the early spring.
“He’s definitely not going south,” she said.
“We’ll be looking at the weight-for-age races, hopefully we’ll get a wet spring and it should be a help that they’re not in Hastings. We might strike a wet track somewhere.”
A six-year-old by Belardo, Belardo Boy was purchased by Latta for $28,000 when presented by co-breeder Haunui Farm at the National Yearling Sales in 2020, and five years later, he has earned more than $436,000.
Latta was equally pleased to see Make Time return to form, having battled in the holding conditions at Wanganui last start.
“It was a much-improved effort from him, he’s just struggled in the really puggy tracks on some occasions,” she said. “He jumped and put himself right there and tried hard to the line.
“We might look at the Opunake Cup with him or possibly heading to Riccarton for an open race.”
