Midnight Dart delivers on debut
Richard Edmunds • October 18th, 2025 2:37 PM • 3 min read
A winning debut by bargain buy Midnight Dart in the Rat Tat 2YO Plate (800m) at Trentham on Saturday has kept the Karaka Millions dream alive and well for a big group of young and first-time owners.
Midnight Dart was bought for just $20,000 from Book 2 of Karaka 2025 by Josh Herd, whose mother Lisa Latta trains the colt at Awapuni. He ran second in his only trial at Otaki on September 16, beaten by a wide margin by subsequent race winner De Armas, and was sent out as the $8.50 outsider in Saturday’s five-horse field.
Patiently ridden by Kate Hercock, Midnight Dart settled towards the back of the field in the early stages as Magill led the field up to the home turn.
The five runners fanned out across the track to stake their claims in the straight, and the favourite Rupeni burst through closest to the inside in what looked like a winning move.
But Hercock drove Midnight Dart up alongside that runner and he outfinished him through the last 100 metres, edging ahead to win by three-quarters of a length. Rupeni ran second, with two and a quarter lengths back to Home Secretary in third.
“He’s a true-blue little professional racehorse,” Latta said. “This is a great story. My son Josh bought the horse from the sales at Karaka and syndicated him out. He’s got a lot of people involved, which is great. There are a lot of small shares and heaps of young people. It’s just fantastic.
“This little horse has done everything right. He had one trial last month, and then he went really well in the Levin jumpouts two weeks ago and was narrowly beaten there.
“We bought him with a dream of getting him to the Karaka Millions for these young owners, so that’s the goal and we’ll work our way backwards from there.”
The $1 million Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) will be run at Ellerslie on January 24. Latta has already made her mark on the Karaka Millions stage, winning New Zealand’s richest two-year-old race with Fort Lincoln in 2011 and finishing second with Showmeyamoneyhoney in 2016.
Midnight Dart earned $23,000 from Saturday’s win, which puts him straight into equal second place in the Karaka Millions order of entry alongside De Armas.
The top spot belongs to the Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained Torture, by freshman Cambridge Stud stallion Sword Of State, who earned A$120,750 with her victory on debut in the Listed Debutant Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield during the week.
Midnight Dart was bred by Grangewilliam Stud and is a son of their headline stallion Derryn. His dam Ambitious Beauty is a full-sister to the Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) winner Ambitious Owner.
