Protest hands victory to Beach Drum in tight race
‘‘ WE FELT HAD THE SHIFT BY LITTLE JOHN ONTO SONADOR FIRE NOT HAPPENED THE SECOND HORSE WOULD HAVE WON THE RACE.
NEIL BOYLE
RACING: Favourite punters were out of luck when stewards were forced to sort out a busy aftermath to Saturday’s Class 3 Plate (1300m) at Clifford Park.
Odds-on fancy Little John ($1.85) was first past the post for jockey Skye Bogenhuber in a hectic race finish where he outlasted the solid-finishing Beach Drum ($11) by a short head.
Thumbs Up ($5.50) was a short neck back third.
But a protest from apprentice Rebecca Goldsbury aboard the runner-up and Beau Appo on fifth place-getter Sonador Fire ($21) alleging interference from the shifting Little John in the home straight put the official result on a lengthy hold.
Video replays showed Little John making contact with Sonador Fire inside the final 200m with Beach Drum on Sonador Fire’s outside also effected in the incident.
Goldsbury’s protest was upheld while steward’s dismissed Appo’s objection.
Chairman of stewards Neil Boyle said the call to award the race to Beach Drum was “really close” with Little John’s narrow winning margin a major factor.
“We felt had the shift by Little John onto Sonador Fire not happened the second horse would have won the race,” Boyle said.
“Stewards considered the interference suffered by Beach Drum was greater than the margin it was beaten by.
“In the case of the other protest, we were of the opinion Little John was holding its margin over Sonador Fire.”
The protest momentarily halted a winning start to the meeting by Bogenhuber who claimed two of the first four races with victories aboard Red Colour ($5.50) and $1.35 favourite Brenda.
Red Colour returned to winning form for Eagle Farm trainer Les Ross with a 51⁄2-length victory over The Barracuda ($21) in the Lincoln’s Legacy Benchmark 60 Handicap (1625m).
Lightly raced three-year-old Brenda returned from a fivemonth spell for Toowoomba trainer Michael Nolan to blitz her rivals with a 63⁄4-length win in the CSR Earthworks Class 1 Plate (1100m).
Kropp and Goldsbury went on to complete a winning double on the seven-race card when Fish Burger ($3.70) ran up to his previous promising debut third to outgun $2.70 favourite Archer’s Treasure by a half length in the Excavation Equipment QTIS Two-YearOld Maiden Plate (1200m).
Bogey Man ($2.30 fav) completed a quartet of wins at three tracks for Toowoomba trainer Ben Currie with his victory for apprentice Leah Kilner in the Hutchinson Builders Class 5 Handicap (1100m).
Currie was earlier successful with Apoloboom ($6.50) at Doomben and Pure Pulse ($5) and Shakira ($9) at Rockhampton.