DILMI’S DILEMMA WITH MATCHA LATTE

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NACIM Dilmi has a nice dilemma.

That’s whether to go to Saturday week’s Epsom Handicap (1600m) at Royal Randwick with yesterday’s Bill Ritchie Handicap runner-up Matcha Latte, or wait another week for the Alan Brown Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens.

Not helping the Wyong trainer’s quandary is the fact that, whilst the Epsom carries Group 1 status and the Alan Brown is Group 3, each race is worth the same – a cool $1.5m.

“It’s not going to be an easy decision to make,” Dilmi said this morning.

“Matcha Latte ate up overnight and seems to have pulled fine from yesterday’s race.

“It’s tempting to have a crack at a Group 1 with 50kg, and on the other hand the 1400m of the Alan Brown is certainly his most successful distance.”

Three of Matcha Latte’s four career wins have been at 1400m; two Provincial Midway-Championships Qualifiers last year and this year, and last year’s victory in the PMC Final at Randwick.

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Matcha Latte at $13 began well and led the $250,000 Group 3 Bill Ritchie (1400m) field before being caught in the closing stages by General Salute ($12).

“He ran a great race, and was definitely fitter than when third first-up in the Show County Quality (1200m) at Randwick on August 22, with a tick-over trial in between,” Dilmi said.

“There were some critics who said Matcha Latte had it too easy in front yesterday, but others could have taken him on if they wanted to.

“He beat home Group 1 winners in Headley Grange and Linebacker (third and fourth respectively).”

Matcha Latte’s regular rider Ash Morgan will not be able to make the gelding’s Epsom 50kg, and Dilmi already has contacted a number of other jockeys who have commitments.

“I’ll see how Matcha Latte progresses in the next few days, and make a decision later in the week,” he said.

Meanwhile, stablemate Humanity, the horse Dilmi had considered taking to the Northern Territory last month for the Darwin Cup (2000m), is back in work.

And he has another interstate mission in mind early in the new year with the gelding – but in an entirely different direction.

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That is the $125,000 Devonport Cup (1880m) to be run on the all-weather track at Tasmania’s Spreyton racecourse on January 6.

Humanity hasn’t raced since trouncing his opposition by nearly eight lengths on the Gold Coast synthetic track on May 2 in a 2000m Benchmark 62 Handicap.

It was the UK import’s maiden Australian success; his previous two career wins being on other synthetic tracks at Lingfield (2414m) and Kempton Park (2212m) in September 2023.

“I don’t think I will run Humanity on the grass again,” Dilmi said.

“He trialled at Wyong on September 10, and will trial again at Newcastle on Wednesday.

“After that I have to work out where to go with him; either back to the Gold Coast or synthetic tracks in Victoria.

“But the Devonport Cup is definitely our main target.

STORY JOHN CURTIS, SEPTEMBER 20, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS