Summer targets for Bundaberg Bullet

By Glenn Davis

Hobby trainer Gary Clem is keen to raise the bar to the rich summer sprints if the “Bundaberg Bullet” - King Klaus - is successful at Doomben on Saturday.

King Klaus - a Ron Stewart mount - is a $5.50 second favourite behind Sydney raider Spaceboy ($3.80) over the 1050 metres dash in the Open Handicap, ironically sponsored by Bundaberg Rum.

Clem will be over the moon if King Klaus wins for the 11th time in just 18 starts and will be happy if the five-year-old just runs a place.

“It’s my 55th birthday on Tuesday and it would be great if he can win but I’ll be just as happy to see him run a place,” Clem said.

“We’re coming down from Bundy and stopping off at Caloundra rain, hail or shine.”

King Klaus strung four wins together at the Sunshine Coast, Eagle Farm and Toowoomba before finishing a close second to Tony Gollan’s exciting sprinter The Move over 900 metres at the Gold Coast two weeks ago.

Clem has a small team of three horses in work at Bundaberg where he works fulltime for Bundaberg Sugar.

“It’s rather ironic this race is sponsored by Bundaberg Rum but I don’t drink rum,” Clem said.

“I work for Bundaberg Sugar driving cane trains and work in the cane fields when the crushing season is finished.”

King Klaus started off with Warwick trainer Norm Hilton before making a winning debut at Gladstone after being transferred to Clem at the start of last year.

He suffered a bad injury early in his career when he had a 10 per cent ligament tear in his off front leg while with Hilton.

“After I got him I gave him nine months off and he’s done a great job for us,” Clem said.

Clem is resigned to racing King Klaus in the south-east and is eyeing a big race during the upcoming summer carnival.

“He’ll have to race down there now as he’d get too much weight up this way,” he said.

“It’s a hard race tomorrow and he’s drawn the car park but if he runs well I might look at a bigger race during the summer carnival if he doesn’t spell beforehand."

Clem was a former jockey before weight prematurely ended his riding career and once had a desire to play rugby league at a high level.

“I got too heavy as an apprentice and had to give it away and I wasn’t good enough to be an A grade footballer for Northern Districts rugby league up here,” he said.