Weights favour Invador but scupper Kruz in feature races at Trentham on Saturday

The weight scale for the two feature races at Trentham on Saturday will really help Platinum Invador but hinder Lincoln’s Kruz.

Instead of lumping topweight as usual, Platinum Invador drops to a luxurious 55kg in the $100,000 Trentham Stakes, lifting him right into calculations for the Group III race.

But the weight-for-age conditions of the $350,000 Telegraph really hurt Pegasus winner Lincoln’s Kruz, who has to lump 58.5kg and give 2kg to the three standout favourites, Levante, Babylon Berlin and Coventina Bay.

Trainer Lisa Latta is very happy with the condition of both gallopers, whom she said have benefitted from a special gallop at Foxton on Wednesday.

Because remedial work is being done on the Awapuni track, after a meeting was called off last month when a horse slipped in the first race, fast work has been restricted to the synthetic track.

But the club organised a float yesterday for trainers to take their charges south to Foxton to get a gallop on the grass.

“It was great to be able to give them that hit-out,” Latta said. “Platinum Invador pulled up really well from it and it really brought Lincoln’s Kruz on.”

Latta is fizzing at the thought of saddling up Platinum Invador with only 55kg in the Trentham Stakes (2100m).

Under normal circumstances, as the winner of $466,000 he’d be lumping weights like 58kg, 59kg, 60kg and 61kg as he has in his last four starts.

It was really only the 58kg handicap that kept him out of the major money last time at Te Rapa when he gave the first four placegetters in the $200,000 QE II Cup up to 5kg.

Latta says she can’t remember the last time Platinum Invador carried only 55kg because it’s that long ago.

The horse carried only 54.5kg in the Avondale Cup in February, 2021, but you have to go way back to December 2019, to find a race where he carried 53kg when second in the Manawatu Cup.

Drawn nine on Saturday on the big, roomy track, with in-form jockey Warren Kennedy aboard, Latta says she expects to see the now seven-year-old bounce back to his best.

“This run will give us a good line on whether to press on to the Wellington Cup in a fortnight.

“He looks fantastic, got the big tick from the vet on Monday, and is striding out nicely in his trot-ups.”

Platinum Invador has shown no signs of being troubled by the tendon injury which sidelined him in Brisbane in May, 2021, and he has now had four runs under his belt for the upcoming $300,000 Wellington Cup (3200m) on January 28 and the $500,000 Auckland Cup at Pukekohe on March 11.

Latta says it’s a big ask for Lincoln’s Kruz carrying more weight than the top fancies in the Telegraph on Saturday, even though he’s won only five races.

“But the four draw will be a big help and hopefully Babylon Berlin will run them along and he can settle in behind them and not pull.”

Lincoln’s Kruz spoiled his chances in the Stewards at Riccarton last November when he over-raced badly before being hampered for room in the run home and finishing fourth.

Freshened, the showy black wasn’t quite so good when only fourth behind Can I Get An Amen at Otaki last start but Latta tried racing the horse without blinkers that day and will put them back on this weekend.

Latta’s remaining two runners for Lincoln Farms, Lincoln Star and Platinum Bordeaux, will both need luck from very wide draws.

Lincoln Star, however, looks an improver stepping up over ground on a track he favours.