Ken Casellas | PACEPIX
South Australian-bred five-year-old Gully Gum’s greatest asset is his smart gate speed and his excellent frontrunning ability.
He was the $1.50 favourite from barrier four in the $27,000 The Bridge Bar Pace over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night when his laziness caused driver Lauren Harper quite some cause for concern.
He set the pace, as expected, but was not as sprightly as usual.
“I thought that this was a good race for him to lead and win,” explained Harper. “But he was inclined to be a bit lazy, and I was worried coming into the (final) 400m when he didn’t want to switch on when I asked him. But he managed to get the job done (with a final quarter of 28sec.).”
Gully Gum rated 1.56.4 and won by just under a length from $17 chance Thenu Came Along. Petes Honour, who raced three back on the pegs, ran home fast along the inside to get up and snatch third place by a head from Recover Lover ($34).
However, the stewards relegated Petes Honour to fourth and elevated Recover Lover to third after they ruled that Petes Honour had gained an advantage by racing inside the final two marker pegs.
Gully Gum, prepared by Bunbury trainer Bob Mellsop, is by American sire Huntsville and is the second foal out of the Modern Art mare Dorothy Hester, who raced 30 times in South Australia and Victoria for two wins, eight placings and $10,576 in stakes.
Gully Gum now has earned $116,210 from 13 wins and 12 placings from 37 starts.