TALENTED five-year-old pacer Aapennon ended a sequence of minor placings with an emphatic win in a C5-6 Pace over 2090 metres at Tattersall’s Park in Hobart on Sunday night.
The Shelley Barnes-trained gelding has been a model of consistency this season with this latest victory his sixth from 13 outings but clearly one of his best.
He led all the way to defeat Harley Fella by almost seven metres with Gamblers Rustler a half-neck away third.
Aapennon (The Wrath Of Pan-Aapennon Jayne) didn’t look to be setting the world on fire but the clock told otherwise with a mile rate of 1m.58.78 sec and a last half (800m) in a slick 57.4 seconds.
He was driven by top Hobart-based reinsman Ricky Duggan who was aboard the gelding for the first time, replacing regular driver Rohan Hadley who is serving a two-meeting suspension.
Barnes said the five-year-old had proven his worth this year but it wasn’t surprising as it was just a carry over from what he showed last season.
“The horse has come a long way this past year and much further than we first thought he would,” Barnes said.
“When he was real young we thought he might struggle to win a few but he grew into himself and this past season he has blossomed,” she said.
Aapennon has won six and been placed nine times from only 19 starts and his owner Geoff Lucas is hoping the win ratio continues.
“He’s been a good little horse for us so far and hopefully he can continue to improve and make it in open class,” Lucas said.
“Shelley has done a marvelous job with him and so has his regular driver Rohan Hadley and tonight Ricky Duggan has served as a more than adequate replacement,” he said.
Duggan said he was surprised at the times produced by Aapennon.
“I thought we were humming along nicely but nowhere near the time shown on the clock,” Duggan said.
“His overall time and sectionals were good but he still had plenty in reserve. He’s a very nice horse,” he said.