Ken Casellas | PACEPIX

Harness racing enthusiasts missed out on a tempting bargain when they showed no interest in buying smart four-year-old mare Princess Katie.

Leading trainer Michael Young, who bought Princess Katie for $30,000 at the 2022 Perth APG yearling sale, revealed after the mare had won the $30,000 WASBA Mares Classic for four and five-year-old mares over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night that nobody had contacted him with the intention of buying the pacer.

“Someone should have bought her,” he said. “I had her advertised for $15,000 for the past three months on Facebook, after she had finished last in the Empress Stakes in April. I had no nibbles, so someone has missed a bargain.

“We took the ad down after Princess Katie had worked (brilliantly) on Tuesday, and we were confident she would prove hard to beat, first-up since the end of July.”

Princess Katie, the second favourite at $4.40, was held out for the early lead (from barrier two) by the polemarker and $13 chance Get The Booth before Emily Suvaljko was able to get Princess Katie to the front after 400m and hold the $2.35 favourite Candy Apple in the breeze.

Suvaljko had to drive Princess Katie hard to withstand a spirited late challenge from Get The Booth, who had enjoyed a perfect trail behind her. Princess Katie shifted out in the straight and won by a nose from get The Booth.

Liam Elliott, Get the Booth’s driver, lodged a protest against the winner, alleging interference in the closing stages. The stewards dismissed the protest after determining that Get The Booth had not been inconvenienced.

Young said that he was ‘relatively happy’ with Princess Katie’s performance. “I thought she would have won more comfortably,” he said. “The early burn took the edge off her. We took the hood off her for this race, and she was a bit unconscious. The hood now might have to go back on. Tonight, she didn’t pick up the bit at all.”

Suvaljko admitted she had a few concerns during the race. “With the hood off she didn’t want to run past a horse (early),” she said. “But it helped when we were able to get a cheap first quarter (31.4sec.)

Princess Katie, who is owned by Young in partnership with a few stable clients, earned $17,226 for her win on Friday night which improved her record to 47 starts for nine wins, 14 placings and $124,205 in prizemoney.