ARMIDALE trainer Stafford Wain’s disappointment at a second placing on Friday was quickly forgotten when promising gelding Latitat won the $15,000 Merriwa Cup (1350m).
Tiny’s View ran second at Armidale’s non-TAB program on Anzac Day, but Latitat made it a weekend to remember on Saturday.
On the back of a good win at Tamworth earlier in the month, the five-year-old Bel Esprit gelding made it two in a row at the non-TAB feature at Merriwa.
Ridden by apprentice Daniel Pitomac, Latitat held off Star of Dubai to win by a long neck.
Wain only nominated his stable star after missing out on a run in Sunday’s Tamworth Cup.
Latitat will now look to make it three wins in a row in the $25,000 Gunnedah Cup next month.
Meanwhile, Guyra trainer Paul Grills prepared two winners at Armidale on Friday.
Mapuche opened proceedings in the Class 3 Handicap (1900m) when he found a late gap to win narrowly on the outside.
“He travelled really well and was always going to be a threat,” winning jockey Geoff Snowden said.
“But the gap closed in the straight and he had to come around them, so it was a good win.”
Snowden also partnered the Grills-trained Dark Facet, which nosed out Go Dragon in the Maiden Plate (1300m).
