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
Friday night at Auckland
Race 4: Tyson
6.59pm
“He was tough again in winning last week. He’s trained on well, is in good shape, and should be right in it.”
Race 4: Sugar Ray Lincoln
6.59pm
“He’s finally getting his act together - he’s gone three good races in a row - and seemingly turned the corner. We’ve had a lot of (vet) work done on him, his feet in particular, and it’s paid off. There’s not much between him and Tyson.”
Race 5: Rivergirl Bella
7.23pm
“She’ll need everything to go her way from the draw. But she’s got a bit of speed. She’s getting there. She wasn’t very strong before and wasn’t tracking too well, but she’s driving right now.”
Race 5: Lincoln Linda
7.23pm
“She’s had a few issues, mostly mental ones, and is still a bit of a handful. It wasn’t very pretty last week but we’re slowly getting her under control. The outside draw might actually help her.”
Race 5: Angelic Copy
7.23pm
“She needs only a half decent trip to feature. She got held up a little bit in the straight at a crucial time last week and that was that.”
Race 6: Prince Lincoln
7.49pm
“He’s drawn the best of ours in three. He got cheated for a run last week. It’s hard to know where he’d have finished without that.”
Race 6: Lincoln Lover
7.49pm
“Ferg reckoned if he’d been able to hold up in the trail last week he would have won. He was very bullish about how he’d gone. The draw’s no help but he can do a bit of work. He’s an honest little guy who saves his best for when the money’s up on racenight.”
Race 6: Johnny Lincoln
7.49pm
“He got a bit keen last week but he should be a lot better this time. He’s still learning and he’s a slow learner. When he does things correctly he’s a pretty nice horse. Hopefully he can get a suck into it from the second row draw.”
