NO less than 10 mares earned their owners an extra payday in October under the popular Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus Scheme, but only one set of connections managed to secure two bonuses during the month.

It goes down as a fine piece of placing and training from the Latta family in Co Wexford to have won a pair of bonuses in October courtesy of smart victories from Belle Le Grand at Fairyhouse and Thisistheway at Cork. That was only the start of a good spell for the Ballycarney team.

With his first point-to-point runner of the season, Andrew Latta sent out Vadamos four-year-old Race To Base to win a maiden at the first time of asking at Loughanmore under Jack Hendrick during the month too. The €28,000 store was sold for £75,000 at last week’s Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale to join Willy and Nigel Twiston-Davies.

Success under the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus Scheme for the pair of Yvonne Latta-trained mares meant plenty to connections. It was actually the second time that Thisistheway had collected a bonus in the colours of Charlie Latta, having won a bumper on debut at Wexford back in August 2023.

There were also extra incentives for her latest win in the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle at Cork, a race that yielded €12,000 in prize money and a €10,000 sales voucher through the IRE Incentive.

“It was a brilliant day,” says Andrew Latta, son of Yvonne and a key part of the operation.

“She’s a homebred mare. Even though she has a good pedigree, nobody seemed to really want her at the sales because she was a box-walker. She qualified for the auction series by going to the sales and, I think, between the value of the IRE voucher and so on, she earned €27,000 at Cork after the ITBA bonus was added into the mix. It was a great result.”

Christmas target

Latta adds: “She was beaten since at Wexford but the ground was just too testing for her - she’s a nice-ground mare. We tried her on softer ground and it just didn’t work. The plan is for her to head to Leopardstown at Christmas now for a novice handicap hurdle.”

An update has come in the aftermath of Belle Le Grand’s likeable performance to win a bumper at Fairyhouse last month. The five-year-old mare by Universal who fetched €20,000 as a store has been successfully traded by the Lattas.

“She’s a good mare who was bought afterwards by Paddy Brennan to, I think, go to Dan Skelton,” says Andrew.

“It was lovely to get the ITBA bonus on top of prize money for her win in that auction bumper. It’s so important and I’m a big fan of the scheme. On top of that, the series of auction races open to horses who have been bought for a certain amount or less has been a good help to lots of people. Personally, I’d be much more in favour of rolling out races like that for cheaper horses than restricting the top four trainers from having runners in certain races.

“When you have races without runners from the top trainers, it isn’t as easy to trade horses who might have beaten them or got placed behind them. Having those trainers involved helps you get paid for selling your horses.”

He adds: “We don’t have a major emphasis on buying mares particularly, it’s more a case of whatever pops up at the sales and represents a bit of value, whether they be fillies or geldings. When there are so many mares’ races out there, though, and the possibility of a bonus too, it gives you an added option when you’re selling them on. The scheme is a brilliant help with mares everywhere, but especially with ones who were bought fairly inexpensively.”

Versatile operation

As well as buying and selling National Hunt stock, the Lattas have also enjoyed winners on the flat in recent times with the likes of Spring Morning and the capable Everylittlestep.

They also recently had success in selling a two-year-old filly, Inner Fury, to continue her career in America after finishing fourth on debut in an auction maiden at Down Royal in September. The Inns Of Court filly cost just €4,500 at part two of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale a year earlier.

Point-to-pointing remains the biggest part of the operation, however.

“We probably have three or four National Hunt horses for the track, maybe one or two who could be possible for the flat, but we’re mainly about the point-to-pointers,” says Latta.

“We only have six three-year-olds turning four, and a couple might go for bumpers. We ended up with a few less than we might have had in other years. I found there was a world of horses to buy and race at those National Hunt sales, but for the ones you wanted to buy for the purpose of selling, it was much harder work. Trainers with orders for syndicates could have possibly found horses but not all of them seemed to do that even for some reason.”

On the extra significance of succeeding with homebreds like Thisistheway, he adds: “It’s brilliant. Dad [Charlie] bought the grand-dam [Party Woman] as a foal and she won three times from only a handful of starts. Unfortunately, she chipped a bone in her knee and had to be retired.

“She produced a good mare for the Alners in England called Miss Mitch [a listed runner-up rated 142] and then Little Mitch, who we had at home and won a bumper and two races over hurdles. Thisistheway is the first foal out of her, so it’s a good pedigree all the way along. It’s lovely to see it continuing.”