MAT Rue might have been joking about Karloo Louie's stuck ear plugs at the Bathurst Paceway on Wednesday afternoon, but it's also clear he has a seriously high opinion of the gelding.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Though the three-year-old trained in Dubbo by Barry Lew broke twice in his racing debut to eventually place ninth, since then Karloo Louie hasn't put a foot wrong.
His return race was a dominant 27.3 metres win which featured a 28.4 second sprint home.
Karloo Louie backed that up with another commanding win and excellent final sprint when saluting at Bathurst by 18.2m in a 1:57.3 mile rate.
Wednesday was a new challenge as Karloo Louie stepped up to the longer 2,260 meters trip for the first time.
This time he was challenged down the home straight too and Rue wasn't able to pull his ear plugs, but once again Karloo Louie was first past the post.
"Barry didn't hook the ear plugs up properly and they didn't come out, so Barry is to blame for that," Rue chuckled.
"But yeah he kicked when I wanted, and that second horse did good.
"It doesn't really matter that extra distance, he didn't really feel it. Not that we race over longer distance too often, but I think later on in life he'll get further."
Having made it three wins in succession it is evident to all that Karlooo Louie is a horse with some talent, but Bathurst reinsman Rue rates him even higher than that.
He's already making comparisons between Karloo Louie and his star Fouroeight, a horse he has so much affection for he's often called him "my best mate."
READ MORE: Doug Hewitt enjoys a winning treble at Dubbo
And those comparisons aren't just because the pair have the same mother in Platinum Sign.
"He's coming along really well, he's actually a half-brother to Fouroeight, so I get a lot of enjoyment out of driving him and Barry is obviously a great mate of mine, Barry and Rhonda have been good to me for years, so I get a big thrill out of driving him," Rue said.
"He's a lot like my horse and I think the older he gets the better he's going to get."
If that is the case, then watch out for Karloo Louie.
On Wednesday night from a barrier eight draw, Rue opted out of the early speed battle and eventually settled $1.65 favourite Karloo Louie three back and one out.
But with the pace not really on - the first quarter was a 32.1 split - Rue decided he get moving. Karloo Louie had to go three wide, but he quickly went from eighth to first as the bell sounded.
With 500m to go Karloo Louie had a five metre advantage over Pale Face Jo in the trail, but behind them Yareadyfreddy was making ground with a three-wide charge.
Yareadyfreddy drew up on his outside through the bend, but Karloo Louie kicked after balancing at the top of the straight.
Though Mark Hewitt's Yareadyfreddy ($7) pushed the favourite all the way to the line, Karloo Louie held on to win by 1.9m.
"That's the way I like to drive him, don't take part in the early burn," Rue said.
"I was pretty happy with were I was, but I was just worried if I had to make my move late and go four and five wide that would probably be the only way I would lose the race.
"So I chose to get him going and yeah it worked out well."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
