Butt back doing the business

Anthony Butt has driven more than 1,600 winners in New Zealand. Simon Katz was his first, taking out the 1987 Dominion and a total of fifty seven of his wins have been at Group One level.

Butt has won an amazing nine Dominion winners – eight trained by his brother Tim.

The 60 year old reinsman has driven many stars of the sport; Blossom Lady, Lyell Creek, Take A Moment, Flashing Red, Under Cover Lover and Stunin Cullen to name a few.

For the last twelve years he also carved out a stellar career in Australia with horses like My Field Marshal and Mr Feelgood.

However his two young granddaughters Addison and McKenzie have been a drawcard for him to return to New Zealand and earlier this year Butt and his partner Sonya Smith came home.

“I had a great time in Aussie and so much success. I thought if I didn’t come back now the grandchildren will be grown and gone,” he said.

It wasn’t an easy call to make.

“We loved Aussie so much and had so many friends over there, but things were struggling a bit in Victoria. You could lose a few horses (drives) inter-state where the better money was, so it seemed like a good time.”

And he added he’s not missing the racing in Melbourne.

“The grid was a bit tough because we race every day, not that you’d go every day, but there are races somewhere. That can wear you down a bit, so I’m not missing that.”

Anthony won the New Zealand Junior Drivers Premiership three times in the mid 1980s and he also represented New Zealand three times in the Australasian Young Drivers Championship, winning in 1986 and 1988.

During his time in Australia he’s seen the next generation of drivers develop and thrive.

“Guys like Cameron Hart and James Herbertson and a bunch of others. They’re the next wave and some of them are already at the top. It’s great to see them right from the start. I actually gave Cameron Hart one of his first big drives. He ran second for me in the NSW Derby (driving Perfect Stride). I beat him driving Line Up. That was before he was as famous as he is now.”

Butt has been suitably impressed with the pool of young drivers in this country too.

“The talent is fantastic. Carter (Dalgety), Wilson House and Sam Thornley and I’ve probably left some out. They work hard and they do a lot of miles. You need the young people coming through, so it’s great.”

His daughter Kim is also starting to make her mark in the sport and Anthony is very proud of her success.

“She’s going great. To win that Group One with Cran and Chrissie’s horse (Freeze Frame) last year was good. Then she followed it up with Debbie Lincoln, and Eurostyle has been so good to her. You just about get more of a thrill out of that than winning yourself.”

Butt is currently working for Stonewall Stud’s Weedons operation.

“It’s a great set up, plenty of horses and good staff. It’s such a big operation to organise. That’s the thing that’s impressed me the most, the organisation and how smoothly everything runs. The horses are going good and are winning plenty of races.”

Butt says he’s been impressed with harness racing in New Zealand.

“It’s flying. The stake money is unbelievable and what the babies can race for here is probably as good as anywhere in the world. Sustainability will be the key, but we need to have faith in the Administrators. I can’t believe it has so many knockers. It’s not that I get on Facebook much but when I do there’s always the same two or three people bagging the industry. They want to go to Aussie and have a look at what’s going on over there.”

While in Australia he also trained for a few seasons, gearing up seventy seven winners – four at Group One level.

“Sonya and I trained for a little bit on our own and had good success. Then we trained for Emilio Rosati for a couple of years and had a great run.”

Their biggest winners were Line Up in the G1 NSW and Victoria Derby, Wolf Stride in the Regional Championships and Elite Stride in the Need for Speed Prince.

He says there are no plans to resume training here.

“We’re just happy to take a break from that at the moment. There’s a lot to training. Now I’m just rocking up and driving the horses with not so many worries.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink