New Zealand-bred four-year-old Fat Louie, described by his trainer-reinsman Chris Voak as a big gentle giant, is a ticking time bomb whose racing career remains in the balance.
Fat Louie, a $4.80 chance, lined up for just his twelfth start when he gave a sample of his undoubted ability with a striking performance to coast to an effortless victory in the $23,000 Retravision Why Shop Anywhere Else Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“He has problems in all four legs, and it is with great difficulty to get him to race,” said Voak after the gelding had charged home from eighth at the bell to surge to the front 130m from the post after travelling three wide in the back straight and four wide at the 300m.
The final 800m off the front was covered in 56.5sec. and Fat Louie rated a smart 1.57.4, taking his record to five wins and five placings for stakes of $43,523. For Voak he has had six starts for two wins and three thirds.
“It’s quite miraculous that he is able to race,” said Voak. “All his legs are crook, and his knees are bad. He has pod lesions in both hind fetlocks, and we manage him on the soft ground and try to keep him off the hard tracks as much as we can. We work him in the heavy sand, off the lead, and we manage him with his shoeing.
“He needs plenty of TLC and I take him to Robbie Tomlinson’s place every week where he stands in a big ice bath for about seven or eight minutes.
“You will not see the best of him, but fingers are crossed that we can pinch another couple of races with him.
“His owner Eddie Burchill has been very patient with him, and it’s good to see that he has just bought another Sweet Lou pacer, a five-year-old gelding for $12,000. He is Cheerstolou, who has scored runaway wins at Albion Park at his first two runs for Eddie.”
Cheerstolou, now trained by Donny Smith and handled by claiming reinsman Layne Dwyer, rated 1.50.8 when he won by seven lengths over 1660m on November 6, and then at his next outing last Tuesday he won by twelve lengths over 1660m, rating 1.48.9 which was just outside super star Leap To Fame’s course record of 1.48.6.
Fat Louie is the first foal out of unraced Bettors Delight mare Thin Lizzie, whose elder full-sister Lacewood Lizzie won the group 2 Franklin Cup in December 2014 and the group 1 Four-Year-Old Diamond at Ashburton in May 2015 before being retired with a record of 40 starts for 13 wins, 12 placings and $258,477.
