Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Sugar Apple, with one win from his previous 22 starts going into the $23,000 Belly Up Pace over 1730m at Gloucester Park on Friday night, bounced back to form when he came from last to win as the fourth favourite at $7.10.
But the New Zealand-bred six-year-old had to survive a protest lodged by Gary Hall Jnr, the driver of the runner-up, the $4.60 chance Regal Cheval.
Hall’s grounds for protesting were that Sugar Apple, driven by his trainer Lindsay Harper, had seriously affected Regal Cheval’s winning prospects by making contact with the nearside wheel of Regal Cheval’s sulky about 900m from home, causing it to deflate and resulting in the gelding being badly hampered in the final circuit.
The protest was dismissed, with officiating steward Rick Mance saying: “Considering the winning margin of one and a half metres and the manner in which both horses finished off the race the stewards could not be satisfied that had the incident not occurred Regal Cheval would have finished ahead of Sugar Apple.”
Hall said that having a flat tyre cost Regal Cheval from winning, while Harper contended that Sugar Apple won comfortably and was pulling away on the line.
Regal Cheval was smartest to begin from the outside barrier in the field of six but was unable to cross to the front, with Rock Artist, a $3.10 chance, booting up from the No. 2 barrier to hold the lead. It was in this early stage that Rock Artist and Regal Cheval locked sulky wheels.
Regal Cheval then raced in the one-out, one-back position before finishing solidly and getting to a narrow lead in the home straight before being overtaken by Sugar Apple, who finished strongly from fifth at the 350m and went four wide on the home bend to gain the upper hand in the closing stages.
The New Zealand-bred Sugar Apple, a six-year-old by Sweet Lou, has earned $141,098 from 14 wins and 14 placings from 65 starts. A winner of one race in New Zealand, one in Victoria and eight in New South Wales, Sugar Apple has had 32 starts in WA for four wins and eight placings.