"HE'S the king of the mountain."
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That is how Bathurst trainer-driver Mat Rue labelled his stable star Fouroeight after he sprinted his way to victory in the annual Oberon Cup on Friday night.
In doing so Fouroeight became just the second horse to take out back-to-back editions of the open class feature, emulating the efforts of the Amanda Turnbull driven My Dusky Sound (2013-14).
The now nine-year-old, who is affectionately known as Phil, also added to his status as the most successful runner at the Bathurst Gold Crown Paceway.
It took him six starts before he managed his first win at the track - storming to a commanding 24.8m win in January 2016 - and in taking out Friday's Oberon Cup, he made it win number 20 in his 101st career start.
It's a track where Fouroeight won the 2016 Gold Chalice Final and 2021 edition of the Shirley Turnbull Memorial, where he's won as a favourite and surprised as a $75 outsider.
"He's been a good horse since he's been two, that's his 20th win at the track now. It's crazy, he's the king of the mountain, he really is," Rue said.
"He just knows when to turn up, it's like he knows the sense of occasion."
Fouroeight had won the 2021 Oberon Cup as a $1.65 favourite, coming from the rear of the field to snatch victory on the back of a blistering 27.6 seconds final quarter.
This time around from barrier nine, Rue settled his $5 chance one out and four back in the 2,260 metres race.
It was Hes Chiming who set the early tempo and led by a neck over Atomic Red on the bell. As they headed into the back straight the Jason Hewitt driven Make Mine Memphis made a three-wide charge towards the leaders, but Rue opted not to follow.
When Rue, driving in the Oberon Cup for the seventh time, did get moving he found himself facing a wall of four horses spread across the track in front of him. So he steered Fouroeight five wide.
The Mustang ($4) hit the front at the top of the straight, but Rue's star kept coming and made it another feature win at his home track, winning by 1.1m.
"That was sort of my plan all week really, to go back, then when we got here and a bunch of rain hit, it seemed better going out wider which just confirmed my plans," Rue said.
"He likes being the widest horse on the track to be honest, he likes coming down the outside of the track.
"I sort of chose not to follow Make Mine Memphis up, I sort of thought whoever was on Memphis' back was going to get pushed out down the back, so I let Jason [Hewitt] go in front of me.
"Not often them things work out, if he'd have got beat it would've been bad. But everything worked out and full credit to the horse because he allows you to make them decisions because of his speed."
Though Rue trusted in Fouroeight's speed, he admitted he was not sure it would get him past the Doug Hewitt driven The Mustang until the closing metres.
"It was only in that last 100, he hadn't dug in as comfortably as he usually would. He's done a lot of travelling lately and not only that, he's probably come to an end of this prep," he said.
"Doug's horse is a fast horse on the way up, I've got a lot of respect for him, he's probably the heir-apparent to be honest. He's as good as any other horse around town I think anyway."