Double Lou returns with his Eureka place already secured
Double Lou returns with his Eureka place already secured
Double Lou (Sweet Lou) has his TAB Eureka place locked away. On Saturday night at Menangle, the four-year-old son of Sweet Lou finally gets the chance to show what shape he is in, with his first race start since July.
The confirmed runner for the slot holder (The Don) lines up in the second Nutrien Equine NSW Breeders Challenge semi-final for four-year-old entires and geldings, race 8 at 10.19pm. He has drawn barrier eight and is the $1.45 favourite with TAB.
Trainer-driver Bailey McDonough has been clear about the plan since the slot was confirmed.
“He’s got the four-year-old Breeders Challenge then it’s on to the Eureka,” McDonough said.
Double Lou’s 2026 record reads five wins from 11 starts, with a best winning mile rate of 1:49.7 at Menangle in March. His last race start was at Albion Park on July 4, when he finished eighth a week after winning there by 2.5 metres during his Queensland winter campaign.
He has had two Menangle trials since. He won the first on September 23, which McDonough said was more about putting the horse’s name forward for the Eureka. In the second, on October 14, he finished third, 20 metres behind Loucasso, after beginning from the outside of the front row and being caught wide early. Loucasso won that trial by 16.8 metres in a 1:49.3 mile rate, with Double Lou the other slot runner in the field.
McDonough was upbeat about him before that hit-out and made it clear the trial was the final step before racing.
“He’ll be ready to go to the races after this trial,” McDonough said.
TAB’s Eureka market firmed on Double Lou from $9 to $7 in the days before that trial.
Saturday will not be a walk in the park. Barrier eight is a tough draw on the Menangle mile, and HarnessLink’s weekend preview rates Bettorlightem Up and Sinaloa among the main chances in the field.
The result matters for more than a place in the Breeders Challenge final on Saturday, October 31, three weeks before the Eureka. Under the Eureka conditions, three-year-olds, fillies and mares receive a preferential barrier draw over four-year-old males. As a four-year-old entire, Double Lou will draw after the younger horses and the females when the ten-horse Eureka field is drawn for November 21.
Only two Eureka runners are confirmed so far: Double Lou and Loucasso, the runner for the slot holder (Rampant Standardbreds). Loucasso races in the second 3YO colts and geldings semi-final earlier on the same card, also from barrier eight. The other eight slot holders can name runners up to seven days before the race.
For a horse who has spent the spring trialling while others raced, Saturday is the first real measure of where Double Lou stands four weeks out from the $1.5 million race.
Double Lou is a four-year-old by Sweet Lou, trained and driven by Bailey McDonough, and races in the TAB Eureka for the slot holder (The Don). He has won five of his 11 starts in 2026.
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