Sir Nate (NZ) Remains Unbeaten in Wellesley Stakes

Nadeem colt Sir Nate (NZ) extended his unbeaten record to two out of two with a convincing performance in Saturday’s $50,000 Listed Anuka Smoker Wellesley Stakes (1000m) at Trentham.

Bought by trainer Lisa Latta for $65,000 at the 2017 Select Sale, Sir Nate made a winning debut in a three-horse race at Wanganui last month. He faced a far sterner test on Saturday but he came out on top again, surging to the lead in the straight and holding on strongly under Masa Tanaka to win by three-quarters of a length.

Sir Nate has now earned more than $34,000 in prize-money for owners Kamada Bloodstock, J C McNeill, S Dais, M Schirnack, L Purvis, P Shearer, S Platt, D Wyborn, K Donoghue, M Dudley and T Ryan.

“It’s a fantastic group of owners that was put together after we bought him at the sales,” Latta said. “Results like this are great for the game.

“It was hard to get a line on him today, he’d only won a three-horse race and was up against a couple of smart northerners with big reputations. He did it very well.

“He’s still learning. He’s so laid-back and hasn’t been switched on yet.”

Latta is a Karaka Million-winning trainer, having won it in 2011 with Fort Lincoln (Charge Forward). She will target the 2017 race with Sir Nate.

“He’ll probably go out to the paddock now,” she said. “We’ll look at Ellerslie over the Christmas-New Year period to give him one run there leading into the Karaka Million.”