Belardo Boy is on target to defend his crown in next month’s Gr.3 Winning Edge Presentations 127^th Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton following his victory in Tuesday’s rescheduled Listed Sinclair Electrical & Refrigeration Opunake Cup (1400m) at Hawera.

The topweight was the slowest away in the Taranaki feature and settled towards the rear of the field for jockey Joe Doyle, while race favourite Wessex set a strong tempo up front, opening up several lengths on the rest of the pack during the middle stages of the race.

The pack quickly ate into Wessex’s lead around the final turn, with Doyle navigating Belardo Boy to the extreme outside of the track on the Heavy10 footing, and the son of Belardo was able to show his class in the concluding stages to draw away and score by two lengths over Spencer, with a further long head back to Gospodin in third.

It was the second consecutive stakes victory for Belardo Boy, who was triumphant in the Listed AGC Training Stakes (1600m) at Wanganui at the start of last month.

He won a trial over 1200m at Foxton in the interim to keep him up to the mark and Latta was pleased with what she saw from her gelding on Tuesday.

“It was a really good win,” she said. “It was a few weeks in between runs but he trialled up nicely with Amber (Riddell) on and pulled up well from that.”

Belardo Boy will now head south to Riccarton next month where he will be vying to defend his crown in the Winter Cup.

“He has had one or two trips down there, he’s a bit older, so it is not like he is having his first trip down there,” Latta said. “Providing he pulls up well, he will go.”

Meanwhile, Latta will have strong representation at Awapuni’s Synthetic meeting on Thursday, with eight runners contesting the seven-race card.

Latta is buoyant about her chances in the Manawatu ITM Pre Hung Doors 2140, where she will be represented by last start placegetters Platinum Sixty Six and last start winner Final Chapter.

“Platinum Sixty Six has had no luck in his last two (starts). Drawing out a bit (7) will help him,” Latta said. “Final Chapter won really well on the Synthetic last time and he has trained on well.”

Bee Enchanted and Lincoln Towers also take winning form into the Humphries Construction 1400 and Manawatu ITM Crane Hire 1400m respectively.

“Bee Enchanted has been in good form and loves the synthetic,” Latta said. “Lincoln Towers is in a tricky field, but he has gone in the right direction since his win and he looks great.”

Stablemate Verardino has been knocking on the door in his last few starts, placing in his last three outings, and Latta is hoping he can break through for a deserved maiden victory in the Goodwood Stud 2140.

“He has drawn out (10) again,” Latta said. “He hasn’t had much luck with draws, that’s for sure, but we will just ride him quietly and get him out to the centre of the track hopefully and he can get home.”