Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Highly-promising four-year-old Sugar Street returned to Gloucester Park on Friday night to contest his first race there for 17 months — and he resumed in a blaze of glory, finishing powerfully to win the $20,250 Nova 93.7 Pace.
He was racing first-up for four and a half months for Busselton trainer Barry Howlett and his victory completed three wins in a row at Gloucester Park, following his previous appearance there on June 25, 2021, when he won easily from Powerplay. And at his previous outing he won from Icanbolt.
Sugar Street’s nine previous starts before Friday night’s win were on country tracks. But, according to Howlett, the Bettors Delight gelding has abundant talent and the raw ability to reach the top.
“I’m hoping he can get into the Golden Nugget (next Friday week) because I think he’s as good as any of the other four-year-olds,” Howlett said. “He will go to fast class, this horse. He is a very good horse who has hardly ever been out of the money. He ran third in the WA Derby (in April 2021 when he finished behind Mighty Ronaldo and Jumpingjackmac and finished ahead of Lavra Joe and Pinny Tiger).
“He is still only about 80 per cent fit, and there’s plenty of improvement in him. He has been off the scene because he has had a few little issues, including a lung infection.”
The New Zealand-bred Sugar Street was a $13.50 chance from out wide at barrier seven on Friday night, and Chris Lewis got him away quickly to manoeuvre him into the favourable one-out, one-back position, following the $6.50 chance Armed Reaction in the breeze while the polemarker and $2.35 favourite Ifeel Sikdarl was setting the pace.
Sugar Street finished strongly to get to the front in the final five metres and beat Ifeel Sikdarl by a half-neck, rating 1.57.2 over 2130m. This took his record to 30 starts for nine wins, 14 placings and $96,877.
Sugar Street is the fifth foal out of the Christian Cullen mare Tuapeka Maddy, who had 11 starts for one win, one placings and $5420 in prizemoney. Sugar Street is a half-brother to Culpeka, who has had nine starts in WA for Howlett for six wins and two placings to improve his record to 28 starts for ten wins, six placings and $161,397.
Sugar Street is also closely related to Machtu (238 starts for 45 wins, 65 placings and $492,443) and Eloquent Mach (42 starts for 13 wins, seven placings and $203,935.
Machtu won 14 races in Western Australia before going to America in 2016. He finished third behind Three Blind Mice in the 2014 WA Derby and won the Group 3 Winter Cup in 2015 when he defeated David Hercules.
Eloquent Mach’s best wins for trainer Gary Hall Snr were in the Group 2 Western Gateway Pace in 2019 and the Group 2 Binshaw Pace the same year.