How sweet it is: Lou and Dalgety proving a formidable duo

When Woodlands Stud first marketed Sweet Lou as a harness racing sire of the future, they distributed sunglasses bearing his name on the pretence they were needed given he had such a bright future ahead of him.

How right they were, with the dual hemisphere G1 producer now producing regular winners at every track worldwide. Excluding Great Britain, where the stats are a little harder to procure, Sweet Lou has produced 638 winners across New Zealand (156), Australia (122) and North America (360), with total stakes earned exceeding $55 million.

On Friday night (9 June.) at Addington Raceway, Sweet Lou produced a siring trifecta, with two of those coming in the hands of another rising star, Carter Dalgety.

Driving for his parents, Chrissie and Cran of Kentuckiana Lodge, the Dalgety trio produced a winning brace spurred on by the siring prowess of the son of Yankee Cruiser.

In the third on the card, the stable produced a three-year-old filly and a recent acquisition, Sweet Coco. The lightly tried daughter of Sweet Lou was having just her third start, with subsequent runs producing a second placing for previous trainer, Katie Cox and a breakthrough maiden victory at Rangiora first up for her new stable in the Anne Thompson Memorial Graduation Final.

Sweet Coco faced a sharp grade rise despite racing her own sex with the likes of 10-win mare Smokin Annie drawn to her outside in barrier nine, but the manner in which she put them away suggested she could be a classics filly in the making.

“We haven’t had this filly long, but that was a huge win. Even I am blown away,” said Dalgety after the race.

Dalgety was forced to go back to last from barrier eight before coming with a searching run in the middle stages in a bid to get up handy on the hot speed being set by the pacemaker, Maria Allegonda and John Dunn.

The pair had little favours when the Brad Williamson trained and driven favourite, Aint No Angel, forced them to sit three wide without cover down the back. Sweet Coco never flinched and, at the 400m, went past the parked runner and pursued the leader, getting her measure as they turned for home.

Dalgety sat patiently urging his charge before finally pulling the plugs at the 100m to keep the fast-finishing Double Down and Ricky May at bay, and that they did. The winning time of 2:22.6 was only two seconds outside a national record on a cold winter’s night, with a blazing 1:55.8 mile rate attributed to the winner.

SWEET COCO REPLAY

“I knew I probably couldn’t go forward early because, as we saw, there was quite a bit of speed,” said Dalgety.

“I decided to stay out of it. I was planning to wait and run at them late, but they backed off, and we got out and around the middle stages, and she was too good.

“We have had a lot of luck with them (Sweet Lou’s), and to be fair, we have had a lot of them, but we keep winning races with them and touch wood, this filly might go a wee way,” he said.

Dalgety’s father, Cran, was equally glowing about his fillies’ prospects and that of the sire, having purchased more than his fair share since they started making their way through the sales rings.

“That was a good effort to maintain that tempo going a 1:55 mile rate,” he said.

“This filly was bought in a private sale off the Hurst family who bred the filly, and Katie Cox has to get many of the accolades. Having laid the foundation with her from a young age, she has done a mighty job, and we have just pampered the filly for a few weeks. We have not made any big plans and will reassess where we go in a few weeks.

“They (Sweet Lou’s) come with a wee bit of arrogance, but if you bust through it, they come with a lot of stamina also, and this filly is very fine but has a lot of speed, and that was a great time on an off night,” he said.

Two races later, the same colours were back in the winner’s circle, with Watermelon Sugar collecting his third win in as many starts suggesting he, too, is a horse of some promise.

“It’s another Sweet Lou night,” exclaimed the junior reinsman, Dalgety.

The $50,000 yearling sales purchase was good enough to feature in some juvenile classics last season, but he found himself a notch below the country’s elite two-year-old pacers.

And while that still may be the case at three, his early season form, which has now yielded three wins and a second placing from five starts, shows he is a pacemaker with a fair amount of ability. 

“This horse is great to drive because he is so versatile. Last week I was really patient with him when he came from the back. I knew the leader tonight was never going to hand up, and you can control the speed from outside the leader, so I was happy sitting there and never panicked,” he said.

Dalgety was content to stroll alongside the James and Geoff Dunn-trained South Seas Rock, with Sam Thornley leading the ten-horse field at a crawl through the early stages.

Blair Orange and Onedin Hurricane came hunting from the rear to apply the pressure down the back and found themselves landing the leader’s back when the trailing runner failed to keep the back of the leader. Dalgety and Watermelon Sugar held their nerve and slowly but surely began to creep closer before grinding out an impressive hattrick of wins.

“It was a handy field, and he’s been stepping up every race, and he’s done it within himself again, so you can’t knock him or the sire. Not in our stable, anyway. We love them,” said Dalgety.

The three-year-old gelding completed the 1980m journey in a time of 2:25.5, with the last mile being run in 1:58.2. Watermelon Sugar’s record now stands at four wins and two placings from just 13 starts.

WATERMELON SUGAR REPLAY

“He’s all American owned, and it’s great to be flying the flag for Sweet Lou because he’s doing a great job,” said trainer Cran.

“They are winning a lot of races every meeting the Sweet Lou’s, so you would have to say they are doing the business,” he said.

Sweet Lou’s Addington treble was completed when the Gerard O’Reilly trained mare, Sweet Belle, upset a talented field of intermediate grade pacers to claim her ninth race day success and continue her resurgence of form, which saw her competitive with the best fillies in her crop two seasons ago.

For complete Addington race results, click here.

By Brad Reid, for Harnesslink