Greg Rue brought up the milestone in Wednesday night's Bathurst Paceway meeting when Williewa Lightning stunned the field at $13 odds to win the Lexus of Dubbo Pace (1,730 metres) by nearly 20m.

Williewa Lightning was asked to start the charge home a long way from the winning post but no-one had an answer for the Armbro Operative gelding when Rue hit 'go'.

Rue hadn't been keeping tabs on his number of driving victories and only found out about the milestone post-race.

"It's nice to bring that up. I had no idea about it," he said.

"I only found out after the race when my nephew Matty told me about it."

The slight drop in grade and a preferred racing pattern were exactly what Williewa Lightning needed to break his 11-race run of zero placings.

But few could have predicted the fashion in which he'd do it.

Williewa Lightning managed to avoid the galloping Hall Star at the green light but found himself caught three wide throughout the whole opening turn.

Rue drove his gelding forward to find the death seat, sitting outside leader Courageous Atom.

The first move came early into the final lap when Our Jaguar Star launched an attack.

Favourite Jak Magic didn't miss an opportunity to latch onto the back of Our Jaguar Star to get himself better positioned.

Before they could get close to the leaders Rue decided to take off with more than 600m to go.

When Rue saw Courageous Atom battling hard to his inside he knew it was the time to go for broke and try to break the hearts of the chasers.

When Jak Magic had to go four wide around Our Jaguar Star in a bid to stay in touch with the leader the race was all but over.

Lavros Midas Touch ($6, Amy Rees) and Rusty McCool ($5.50, Emma Turnbull) both finished well but they were no chance of catching Rue's runner, who completed a sensational turnaround in form.

"His form wasn't that good. He paces really rough and hangs occasionally but he worked really well on Monday so I knew where I had him," Rue said.

"The leader was gone so I thought I'd press on and try to take them off the bit.

"I thought he'd be able to do it. I was really worried about Rusty McCool, because he's a really nice horse, but he was stuck further back in the field.

"Williewa Lightning always finishes off his races really well, he just sometimes can't get around the last turn. I kept working and working on that and he finally got it right."

The exact margin back to Lavros Midas Touch was 17.2 metres, who in turn beat Rusty McCool in a photo.

The winning mile rate of 1:56.6 was a new best performance from Williewa Lightning, and it brought up his third career success.