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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

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.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.

Our runners this week: How our trainers rate them

Ray Green

Ray’s comments

Thursday night at Cambridge

Race 7: Im Not The Maid
8.15pm

“She couldn’t knick off a perfect trip last time in the amateur race so I won’t be holding my breath here.”

Ray Green

Ray’s comments

Friday night at Auckland

Race 2: Leo Lincoln
5.53pm

“It looks like it will be a replica of his last two runs. He needs to drop down a class.”

Race 2: Kevin Kline
5.53pm

“I think he’lll go another good race but you couldn’t make a case for him to beat the two favourites (American Me or Mantra Blue). If he ran third, I’d be rapt. He’s very genuine and his form reflects that.”

Race 3: The Rascal
6.24pm

“We’ve chucked him in the deep end - he’s a maiden against race winners - but he’s improving all the time. Fergy had difficulty steering him last time and said if he could have got him out, he would have won. We’ve made little changes to his gear this time and I think he’s a serious contender.”

Race 7: Sugar Ray Lincoln
8.26pm

“He feels super in his work. I’m really pleased with him. I know he hasn’t lived up to his early promise but the way he’s training he might now be ready to realise it.”

Race 9: Dreams Of Eric
9.32pm

“He wasn’t handling the right-handed going so well, which was why he switched to racing at Cambridge, but he’s a genuine little guy, a strong colt with a bit of speed. I think he’s a chance, it’s just the draw, but it’s only a small field.”

Whales Harness