Balancing big stable and family life no easy task for Lisa, NZ’s latest 1000 club member

New Zealand’s busiest mum on Sunday reckons she’s lucky her kids love the horses and going to the races.

Mother’s Day for Lisa Latta didn’t involve flowers and breakfast in bed, rather an early start, a long day at the races, and a late finish.

But Latta’s two children, Jamie, 15, and Josh, 17, were right by her side at Woodville, helping the race team, and cheering for mum after she brought up a milestone training feat.

Platinum Star’s win in the appropriately named Mother’s Day 1400 made it 1000 career wins for Latta, the first woman training solo to achieve the feat and only the second woman after Dawn Williams, who trains in partnership with husband Peter, got there in 2018.

Latta says her task of balancing running a big stable and retaining time for family is made much easier because her children are so involved with the horses.

“Jamie is at a private school but she’s home on weekends and helps out for a bit of pocket money. She’s just got her stablehand’s licence.

“And Josh is there as much as he can be. He’s in his last year at high school and is going to Otago Uni next year to do a business degree.

“Racing’s not an easy game but Josh is showing signs of wanting to be in it. He worked with yearlings at Haunui Farm this year.”

Latta says she takes Sundays off unless she has to go to the races.

“I’m only five minutes from the stables if I’m needed. But my phone is on silent and I only talk to staff.”

It took Latta, 52, just 24 years to prepare 1000 winners, something which she says she’d never have managed without the support of some wonderful owners and her loyal staff.

Lincoln Farms’ owners John and Lynne Street were the ones instrumental in not only boosting her to the 1000 win club but also getting her started in the first place.

A majority of the Streets’ 406 gallops winners have come out of Latta’s Palmerston North stable, a partnership which started in December, 1998 on the sudden death of former top trainer Malcom Smith.

“John was at the funeral that day and said if I wanted to have a go at training he’d support me,” said Latta. “He was instrumental in my starting out and without that (pledge) I may never have had a go.”

A majority of John Street’s 406 galloping winners have been trained by Lisa Latta.John Street recalls Latta, in her late 20s, was stable foreman for Smith at the time.

“Malcolm was a very astute trainer and that’s why I had faith in Lisa.

“She quickly showed her ability as a horsewoman. And I liked that she was friendly, and was a real South Island girl, down to earth with no bullshit.

“I remember her calling me when she was having her first baby. She was talking like she felt guilty having children. But I said just get on with it.

“She was back at work the day after giving birth, that’s how tough she is.”

Street says Latta is more like a daughter than just a trainer. “She’s a great friend and we enjoy her family. We’ve watched Josh grow up.

Incredibly loyal staff

“She’s loyal and dedicated, really puts the hours in, and she has very loyal staff, some have been with her for 20 years.”

Most racing stables struggle to retain staff but Jo Pearson worked with Latta at Smith’s stable, and has been with her ever since, and Amy Clifford and Margaret Bayliss have been loyal for 20 years or more.

“They know the systems in place so it doesn’t matter if I have to go away for a couple of days,” says Latta.

Lisa Latta flanked by loyal owner Neville McAlister.Long time stable owner Neville McAlister, who bred and part-owns winner No. 1000 Platinum Star, knew Latta when he was working as a stipendiary steward in the 1990s and recalls how she was so shy, and “quiet as a mouse.”

“Her communication has really improved over time and we’re now on the phone every day, sometimes twice a day.”

McAlister’s first horse with Latta was Cajun Spice, a Stark South filly he was invited to race on lease in 2000.

“We were lucky she won her first start for us at Tauherenikau. Lisa had only four horses then but she slowly built up.’’

McAlister now has 25 horses coming and going from the stable, most owned along with Lincoln Farms, and has lost count of the number of winners.

“You lose more than you win in this game but our relationship has stood the test of time.’’

Latta has had many other loyal owners over the years, not the least of which has been Albert Bosma’s Go Racing syndicates, which have helped boost her tally.

The season totals have slowed in recent years, compared with earlier in the 2000s, when she was really chasing winners and trained much bigger teams.

Kozzi Asano, right, gets the best out of Platinum Star to claim win No. 1000 for Lisa Latta. Her Mother’s Day ended with a visit to Palmerston North Hospital to visit Asano who broke his collarbone when he clipped heels and fell in the last race. PHOTO: Peter Rubery/Race Images.When Latta became the first woman to win the premiership in 2013, training 87 winners, she lined up 981 starters, compared with totals in only the 500s pre-Covid and only 395 so far this season.

“I had two stables in those days, one in South Island, with 100 horses between them.

“I don’t push the way I used to and I’d have only 45 in work at the moment. I’m a bit more laid back, my priorities have changed.

“I’ve also got a relatively young team. I lost a few of my topliners during Covid, Secret Allure and Sentimental Miss who went Australia, Platinum Invador raced in Australia in the spring and Authentic Paddy was retired.”

Latta’s numbers will also be impacted by the gradual phasing out of Lincoln Farms’ galloping team in the next half dozen years, Street, 76, electing to concentrate more on his harness team.