Latta stable stalwart enjoys another big win

After a big season of feature race wins over the previous 12 months, Manawatu racing stalwart Craig McNeill is off to a flying start for the 2023-24 season.
Belardo Boy’s victory in the Gr. 3 Winning Edge Presentations Winter Cup was the best possible way to usher in the new season. Central to McNeill’s success as an owner is Awapuni trainer Lisa Latta, whose association with the former Feilding Jockey Club president dates back to more than 20 years.
“I got to know Malcolm Smith many years ago when he moved his training operation from New Plymouth to Feilding and of course he was the person who gave Lisa her start in racing,” McNeill recalled when RaceForm caught up with him earlier this week.
“Lisa and I had a bit in common even before then as we’re both Otago-born and bred. I had a couple of horses with Malcolm in his Feilding stable and that continued when he relocated to Awapuni following the sale of the Feilding racecourse.
“The first horse I was involved in when Lisa began training was a Centaine gelding by the name of Fercertain, who won the Thompson Handicap at Trentham way back in 2008.
“We’ve had a lot of success over the years but last season was just amazing. He’s A Doozy has been our best horse winning the Coupland’s Mile, the Thompson and the Thorndon Mile, so now to win the Winter Cup as well – what a fantastic 12 months it’s been!”
McNeill grew up on the family farm on the eastern side of the Taieri Plains, close by what is now Dunedin Airport. While other siblings continued farming as a career, he studied accountancy and initially worked in Dunedin for Coopers and Lybrand.
He and his wife Marie decided to travel, which led to three years living and working in Bermuda, before returning to Dunedin and in time moving north to Feilding to set up an accountancy practice and where they have lived since 1983.
One of McNeill’s boyhood friends was the late Neil Purvis, who gained fame for his sporting achievements, most significantly as an All Black in the 1970s.
“Neil and I became great mates, we played rugby and cricket together and always stayed in touch. Neil enjoyed his racing too and it was quite an occasion when he came north with his good stayer Cluden Creek and won the (2004) Wellington Cup.
“The odds were there for the taking and we all had a decent collect off him. Those winnings led me to taking a half-share in Fercertain and I guess all the horses that have followed since.”
McNeill’s role with the Feilding Jockey Club was significant in the decision to sell its racecourse and join forces with the Awapuni-based Manawatu Racing Club, which was to also include the Rangitikei, Marton and Ashhurst clubs in what is now known as the RACE group of clubs.
“It was the best thing we could ever do, the Felding club was struggling and we were sitting on a valuable asset, and it made so much sense to sell the land to the local council. The new combined club set-up works very well for all the clubs involved and racing itself.”
McNeill was happy to take a 20 per cent share in Belardo Boy when Latta signed for the big chestnut at $28,000 from the Karaka sale-ring. Others in the partnership include fellow Feilding identity Stuart Dias, Christchurch enthusiast Winsome Dormer, and members of the Purvis family under the Rabbitohs Racing Partnership.
“We live in different parts of the country, but it’s a great bunch to be involved with and as you can imagine we’ve had a lot of fun.
“Marie and I love being involved with various partnerships, and as I always say to Lisa, that’s what it’s all about, bringing people into the game.
“Lisa’s a great girl, she’s so enjoyable to work with, and being me, I like to sit down with her and identify what races to target. It certainly has worked well for us over the past year or so.”
Not all members of the Belardo Boy partnership were at Riccarton last Saturday, but those absent still enjoyed themselves.
“Winsome and the Purvis crew decided to go to the All Blacks test in Dunedin and they tuned into the race about halfway through the second half of the game. By then the All Blacks were starting to get on top of the Wallabies, but I don’t think it mattered to our guys.
“From what I’ve been told, there was one hell of a party kicking off in a corporate box at Forsyth Barr Stadium well before Richie (Mo’unga) kicked that winning goal.”
Belardo Boy will back up in the open 1800m at Riccarton this Saturday, while he also holds a nomination for the first leg of the Hawke’s Bay spring treble, the Tarzino Trophy, in early September.
“That will depend on what the weather does and he’s got to make the field, which is based on black-type wins,” McNeill said. “We’ve got He’s a Doozy in all three legs at Hastings, and he kicked things off with a trial win last week, so with a bit of luck there’s still plenty to look forward to.”