Louisville can’t be faulted on the score of consistency and the five-year-old posted another deserved victory on Saturday when he had no trouble putting away his rivals at Rosehill.
The Gerry Harvey-bred and raced son of Westbury Stud resident Redwood possesses an admirable mix of talent and honesty and weight of expectation sat easily on his shoulders at the weekend.
Sent out a dominant favourite, the Chris Waller-trained Louisville continued his march through the grades, and he passed another distance test when he successfully stepped out beyond a mile for the first time.
He settled three back on the fence from his inside gate before rider Sam Clipperton angled off the rail before the turn and he powered between runners in the straight to claim the thick end of the stake at the end of 1800 metres.
“It was just a matter of navigating a path and presenting him at the right time. The step up in distance certainly assisted and the nice draw helped,” Clipperton said.
“He has been racing very well, but has been the victim of wide draws. It was nice to be able to utilise the soft draw."
“I had to navigate him into the clear and he got to the front too soon with relative ease. It was just a matter of him lacking confidence. He didn’t quite know how to put them away, but it felt like he still had a bit there."
“He won very well first-up and has put another win on the board and that will do his confidence the world of good."
“He is very economical within himself, and he doesn’t burn any excess fuel. The way that he was to the line and through the line would suggest that 2000 metres would probably be a bit of a sweet spot for him.”
Louisville placed in all three of his starts for Byerley Park trainers Shaun and Emma Clotworthy before he relocated to Waller’s champion stable and in nine subsequent appearances has collected three wins and only once finished out of the top two.
His lead-up form to Saturday had included three consecutive runner-up finishes, the last two in the hands of Tommy Berry who had commitments on Saturday at the Gold Coast and his feedback prompted the decision to move him up in trip.
“He’s been getting back in his races and running on, and Tommy said it was the right time to step him up to 1800 metres,” stable representative Damien Fitton said.
Louisville is out of the Rock Of Gibraltar mare Edie, who is a daughter of the G1 Melbourne Cup and G1 Auckland Cup winner Jezabeel.
Six of Edie’s foals have been successful and includes stakes performer Lucky Edie and she has a yearling brother to Louisville.