Covid restrictions will see numbers severely limited at Addington on Tuesday but the first horse punters will see on their racebooks will be Sugar Apple.
Copy Who? Sugar Apple to make unusual farewell on harness racing’s biggest day
By Barry Lichter • 5 November 2021
It’s the ultimate pub quiz stumper.
What horse was on the front cover of the racebook for IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup day 2021?
Last year’s winner Self Assured?
Wrong.
Triple cup hero Terror To Love?
Wrong.
On a day when Lincoln Farms’ classy Copy That will start one of the favourites for the $600,000 feature at Addingon, one of its lesser performed horses gets the surprise pin-up treatment.
Enter, the racy looking, but only one-win two-year-old, Sugar Apple.
And the juvenile’s rare moment in the spotlight comes just a few days after he left Lincoln Farms and the country, sold to New South Wales interests.
Sugar Apple showing off at Cambridge on Jewels day.The Sweet Lou colt might have won just one of his six starts here, but he always made his presence known, and Auckland photographer Trish Dunell’s shot obviously took the fancy of the racebook designers.
A half brother to Lincoln Farms’ former classy three-year-old American Dealer, he has not raced since winning his last start for trainer Ray Green at Cambridge in August.
It was there just a few months earlier, on Harness Jewels day, that he turned on a display in front of the grandstand, rearing repeatedly before the score-up then blazing to the front to lead the fastest horses in the country in the Two-Year-Old Emerald.
“He’s a zippy little guy and they’ll love him over there,” Green said.
“He’ll win them in a row for a starter as they have so many more options for horses like him. He has gate speed, a big engine and a bit of lick. He’s just not that strong yet. He’s a similar type to Larry Lincoln, who was a sit-sprinter rather than one for big overland trips.”
Sugar Apple was raced here by American Dealer’s owners Gordon Banks and Marc Hanover, John and Lynne Street, Trevor Casey, Matt Hooper, Grant Dickey, Ian Kedzlie, the Chissos and Wack Syndicate and the Green Machine Racing Syndicate.
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Ray’s comments
Wednesday at Cambridge
Race 3: Spiritual Bliss
1.10pm
“You can’t fault what she’s done up here and she’s trained on really well since Manawatu. She seems to have a good motor and can carry her speed a long way. It’s a bit of a step-up on Wednesday, and she’s drawn out a bit, but she should be right in the fray.”
Race 4: Lincoln Lover
1.45pm
“It’s a huge drop in class for him on what he’s been racing. The Purdon horse Crippa Max looks the one to beat on his trial but I’m picking we’ll finish in the first three at worst. He’s very honest and does nothing wrong.”
Race 6: Lincoln Downs
2.55pm
“She got skittled early last time when one galloped in front of her, and that didn’t help. It would be nice to see her get a good trip, with no incidents, and see what she can do. She’s no superstar but she tries hard.”
Race 9: Leo Lincoln
4.31pm
“It’s his first race for more than four months and I’m picking he’ll need the run. It was a toss-up whether we went to the trials, but he’d probably have had no opposition, so it made sense to drop him in here. He’s training well and seems in good shape but whatever he does, he’ll improve on.”
