Larry's Never Late has won Wednesday's Group Three $300,000 Launceston Cup which was marred by pre-race controversy when the favourite De Fine Lago was scratched by stewards who ruled the gelding was lame.The seven-horse field, following the scratching of Grand Destiny on Tuesday and the late withdrawal of De Fine Lago, was the smallest in Launceston Cup history .The pre-Cup drama started when Tasmanian Turf Club stewards, chaired by Wade Hadley, withdrew De Fine Lago, saying the Hobart Cup runn

Larry's Never Late has won Wednesday's Group Three $300,000 Launceston Cup which was marred by pre-race controversy when the favourite De Fine Lago was scratched by stewards who ruled the gelding was lame.

The seven-horse field, following the scratching of Grand Destiny on Tuesday and the late withdrawal of De Fine Lago, was the smallest in Launceston Cup history .

The pre-Cup drama started when Tasmanian Turf Club stewards, chaired by Wade Hadley, withdrew De Fine Lago, saying the Hobart Cup runner-up was lame.

The club's veterinary surgeon said De Fine Lago had quartered the inside heel of the near foreleg.

Trainer Tony Vasil made a request to stewards that race rider Damien Oliver canter him around to the barrier before the race.

"If stewards thought he was lame so be it, scratch him, I was that confident he'd be okay," the Caulfield trainer said.

However his request was refused.

"I'm bitterly disappointed and annoyed," Vasil said.

"The owners have spent the best part of $9,000 to bring him here for nothing. I thought he had the race at his mercy and to be pulled out in these circumstances is quite ... I won't even say.

"In their view they believe the horse is lame, but I've had the horse here a couple of days, I rode him myself yesterday (Tuesday) at Longford.

"I'm not a mug. I've been training horses for a fair while.

"I know a horse that is lame and what's not. He has got an abrasion on the bowl of his heel. If you push it, yes he'll react to it.

"But his action, all you've got to do is get him out on the grass and bowl him off and he'd be fine."

The victory of Larry's Never Late was a triumph for Mt Eliza trainer Rod Douglas who also won the Listed Tasmanian Oaks (2100m) with Zabeel filly Coulis last Sunday, and Melbourne jockey Ben Melham.

Melham said the win was equal to his previous best which was the 2009 Group Three Coongy Handicap at Caulfield aboard Baughurst.

Sent out at $4.20, Larry's Never Late was well ridden by Melham in a muddling-run race and went on to score by 2-1/4 lengths from Dream Pedlar ($4.70) with Growl ($1.70 fav) 5-1/2 lengths away third.

Douglas said he was confident the Pentire four-year-old could turn the tables on Hobart Cup (2200m) winner Growl after finishing fourth in that race.

"Shocking only just beat him for second in the Queensland Derby," Douglas said.

"Growl has won one race in three years so I thought it would be a miracle if he won two in a row."

Larry's Never Late is out of the Zabeel mare Laebeel who was runner-up to Sky Heights in the 1999 Caulfield Cup.

The four-year-old gelding, raced by Jonathan Munz's Pinecliff Racing Syndicate, hadn't won since taking out the Hamilton Cup (2200m) as a three-year-old on a slow track in April last year.

Last season he contested three Derbys, finishing sixth to Rebel Raider in the 2008 Victoria Derby, fourth to the same horse in the 2009 SA Derby and third to Court Ruler in the Queensland Derby.

Douglas said Larry's Never Late was still in the Group Two Adelaide Cup (3200m) at Morphettville on March 8.

"But we might give him a break and take him to Queensland for the winter," he said.

The gelding has won six races and been placed in another four of 23 starts.