PACING
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DUBBO has been a happy hunting ground for Bathurst reinsman Mat Rue in recent times and that continued on Sunday when he scored a winning treble.
Rue took out the second, third and fourth events during the six-race meeting.
It capped off a stellar weekend for the former Miracle Mile winning driver, as he also recorded a hat-trick of wins at Young on Saturday night.
“It was one of those weekends where I thought I might have one or two winners and five or six places and it’s not very often you get six in a weekend,” Rue said after going past $540,000 in prize money for the season.
“I drove nine in a week once, but not six in a weekend.
“I’ve never got two trebles in two days.”
Rue’s first win in his race-to-race-to-race treble on Sunday came in the gig of Peter Bullock’s Blackmagic Shannon.
The filly may not have won since August 2015, but she began the Garrards Horse and Hound Three Year Old Pace (1,720 metres) as a firm $1.70 favourite.
And she didn’t disappoint as Rue led from virtually start to finish to score by 3.4m from Velvet Kisses ($51.30) and Midnight Bender ($4.20).
The second of Rue’s wins was arguably his most impressive, with Hallnightparty adding another victory to his hugely promising looking career.
The Andrew Hall-trained mare has now won four from five starts, but Sunday’s was her first success in almost 10 months after a long spell.
After sitting third from last when the field got the bell, Rue moved his way through the crowd before Hallnightparty came down the straight like a freight train to win by 6.5m.
Pre-race favourite Master Benny ($1.80) had to settle for second, while Red Hot Jerry ($14.60), who led into the straight, was third.
“I’ve always had a good opinion of her, so it was good to see she came back in a similar way to where she left off,” Rue said of Hallnightparty.
Rue added the mare was one with a bright future and said a tilt at the Where Horses Fly Country Series was next for the four-year-old.
Charlottes Delight, also trained by Hall, was the final and most comfortable of the three Rue winners at Dubbo.
The mare led from start to finish and recorded a 9.5m victory over Sporty Shannon ($9.50) and Sporty Belle ($14.30).
Rue, who remains fourth in the NSW Drivers’ Premiership, is now just 15 wins off a century of victories for the season.
“Last season I pulled up on 82 [wins], so I wanted a really good go of getting 100,” he said.
“I did it once before, but that’s when I was living in Sydney and was driving some of the best horses in the state, so it was easier then.
“I need 15 in about three months, so at the moment it’s looking good.”