Weather to have the final say

Lisa Latta will be leaving the immediate future of upset Otaki winner North And South to a higher power.

She has the mare in prime order, but it will be a factor out of the Awapuni trainer’s control that determines which path the seven-year-old takes.

“I’ll keep her in work and just wait and see what the weather does in the next few weeks,” Latta said.

Rain-affected tracks are North And South’s speciality and she showed on Friday what a difference they make to her.

She relished the Slow 8 conditions on offer to post her maiden black type success at odds of 19-1 in the Listed Chainey’s Panasonic Levin Stakes.

“She’s really thriving at the moment,” Latta said. “She had a few problems about a month and a half ago and we backed off her before she came back to run third at Rotorua.”

North And South had placed behind Scapolo in the Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes in October and then filled a similar position in an open handicap on her home track last month.

The Strategic mare settled at the tail of the field at Otaki and the race unfolded on the turn as rider Robert Hannam expected.

“She’s just one of those mares that handles wet tracks and, while the fence probably wasn’t the place to be, she’s a horse that gets back and cutting the corner was always the option,” he said.

North And South came underneath runners in the straight and she rallied strongly to keep the late run of Summer’s Day at bay with Miss Appleton taking third from Salamanca.