Riding for his wife Gemma, who trained the pair, he said he’d had a dream run after his first two races of the day, with a third – Zaras Heaven – missing out on handing the Rues a trifecta. 

MyMatePog finished first in race two, beating out the James Rattray-trained $1.75 favourite Arma Naughty by just under two lengths to hand the Rues their third win with the three-year-old gelding. 

It was MyMatePog’s first run back from a three-month spell, with its first three runs with the stable yielding a second and two firsts at Bathurst, Menegal and Eugowra, with two Bathurst trial runs also resulting in wins for Rue. 

Mat Rue said the SomeBeachSomewhere x OneForPog gelding was a beauty to drive and talked up his potential. 

“My Mate is a horse on the rise so she’s a pretty smart one,” Rue said. 

He also said the gelding had loved the conditions – racing on grass and clockwise for the first time. 

“I do think My Mate Pog enjoyed running the other way but going the other way he wants to lean into it a little bit but going this way today he ran perfect so I think he enjoys it,” he said.

He said MyMatePog was the standout for the stable at the moment, despite the brilliant run of Ichiba Newy in the third race at Towac. 

“Poggy’s only a three-year-old racing against the older horses here today and he’s first up from a break and he’s the better of the two, [Ichiba Newy] isn’t as dominant as him as she needs things to go her own way but he can make his own luck,” Rue said.

“[Ichiba Newy] needs a decent barrier but a bad barrier won’t affect him as much as it will her."

Dealt barrier two on Sunday’s 1600 metre Macquarie Geotech Heat 2, Ichiba Newy was up the front of the pack for the entire 1600 metre race, too-ing and fro-ing with second placed Tiges Apprentice, but proved too strong on the straight holding on by half a length. 

Rue said the conditions didn’t impact the four-year-old mare. 

“She was just the usual self and she runs around a bit either way so it doesn’t really effect them, it’s a big spacious track so that’s good,” he said.

“We didn’t do a lot of work out there and we were close enough at the top of the straight to get there. 

Meanwhile, Amy Day’s Atomic Bombshell took out the Brooklyn Lodge Stud Harness Breeders NSW Bonus Scheme three-year-old fillies pace ahead of Bernie Hewitt’s Whata Reactor.