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Steve and Amanda Telfer take a powerful team of pacers to Addington tomorrow night with Bettor’s Anvil in the Chairmans Handicap, their headline act. Hear Amanda’s views on Stonewell’s eight runners. Race One: Stella Rouge (Bettor’s Delight) – driver Tim Williams – FR5 Race Three: Tactacool (Lazarus) – driver Tim Williams – FR1 […]
Cran Dalgety says Republican Party (Bettor’s Delight) is ready to go. “He’s as fit as we can get him so it’s just about going to the races. It’s not a gimme because he’s got Marketplace and It’s Tough there. He’s going to have to work for his money now, but he’s not showing any seven […]
It’s been quite a week for Canterbury based junior driver Nikata Burton. She hasn’t driven a lot of trotters and her first win with Kairaki Spur (What The Hill) in the $25,000 Darren DeFilippi Memorial for junior drivers at Addington last night was a nice way to get started. “It was a bit of a […]
Anthony Butt has been doing plenty of homework ahead of Cambridge’s meeting tonight. Having relocated from Australia earlier this year, Butt is now working at Stonewall Stud and is on duty up north with seven harness racing drives for the Steve and Amanda Telfer team, while Tim Williams has five for the stable at tonight’s […]
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 […]
Life initially wasn’t easy for Oscar Bonavena (Majestic Son) and if it wasn’t for the intervention of Charlotte Williamson he may not have survived, let alone go on to become a harness racing millionaire. Oscar’s mother Now’s The Moment was owned by Charlotte’s father John Purvis and was grazing at home. “When I found him […]
It would be easy to assume Anthony Butt’s booking on Tour Party for his effortless debut win at Addington on Thursday was a case of keeping it in the family. And it kind of was, not that brother-in-law and co-trainer Cran Dalgety had much say it in. Tour Party’s debut was a happy homecoming for […]
One of harness racing’s greatest reinsmen is heading home. Anthony Butt reflects on his time in Victoria, his biggest moments on and off the track, and what’s next as he prepares to return to New Zealand following the Summer of Glory carnival. by Bronte Nieuwenburg, for Harness Racing Victoria
One of this country’s greats is returning home to link up with the country’s top harness racing stables. In just over a month the Australian-based Anthony Butt will relocate from his base at Melton just outside Melbourne and take up a new job for last year’s premiership-winning Stonewall Stud in Canterbury. Last year the Stud’s […]
She wasn’t sure if she’d won, but after some discussion among the drivers that featured in the finish of today’s $200,000 Group One Woodlands Stud Sires’ Stakes Two Year Old Final, Kim Butt got the call that she’d won her first Group One. “Three weeks ago I’d never have dreamt I’d be driving this horse. […]
Victorian harness racing participants are being urged to show up and speak up when Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) resumes its industry consultation forums from tonight (Monday June 17). The round follows a year of difficult truths for the Victorian industry, after the scale of HRV’s financial challenges became known and the organisation promised a new […]
Champion driver Anthony Butt has faced the harness racing starter thousands of times but admits he’s “never been as scared” as when a broken bit left him helpless at Melton last Friday night (April 11). Butt was drawn inside the front row on Kota Bharu which got unbalanced and galloped just after the start of […]
Harness racing fans were treated to a dazzling performance by New Zealand’s premier trotter Oscar Bonavena (Majestic Son) when he demolished his rivals to take out the Group 1 $60,000 Blue Hills Rise Bruce Skeggs Memorial Cranbourne Trotters Cup last night. Trainers Mark and Nathan Purdon had targeted last week’s Great Southern Star at Melton […]
Kiwi harness racing greats Anthony Butt and Cran Dalgety know how to win a Hunter Cup. They also fully understand the importance of good barriers in modern-day racing, which is why their confidence has grown going into Victoria’s biggest race at Melton on Saturday night. Dalgety, who won the 2014 Hunter Cup with Christen Me, […]
Champion harness racing driver Anthony Butt thinks Tact McLeod (Sweet Lou) is the right horse to win him a remarkable eighth Group 1 Hunter Cup. Butt, a former Kiwi now based in Victoria, already holds the record for the most wins by a driver in Victoria’s biggest harness race with seven, but it has been […]
Harness racing punters will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Don’t Stop Dreaming (Bettor’s Delight) when he returns to Addington tomorrow to start his tilt at the IRT New Zealand Cup in just over three weeks time. The Mark and Nathan Purdon trained four year old has had two trials since last […]
A familiar face returns to New Zealand harness racing action on Friday night with champion reinsman Anthony Butt making a trip home to drive New Zealand Cup aspirant, Rock N Roll Doo (Rock N Roll Heaven). The ex pat Kiwi is the winner of 2484 races in Australasia has driven 36 individual Group One winners […]
Internationally renowned harness racing driver Anthony Butt well and truly knows his way around Redcliffe’s ‘Triangle’ track and he is keen to get back to the venue for the deciding program of Trot Rods for 2024. The 58-year-old reinsman will battle it out against four local drivers on Wednesday evening of next week for the […]
Consistent pacer Stir Me Up (Auckland Reactor) broke through for his maiden metropolitan harness racing win in the Hip Pocket Pace at Melton. Stir Me Up landed behind the leader Sweet Passion while the $3.70 favorite Hes A Meister worked forward early to lead the outside division. Hes A Meister began to give ground around […]
Last week the leading Victorian harness racing trainer, Emma Stewart issued a statement via her social media channels in response to the stable inspection which resulted in the scratching of two Maryborough runners due to being found in clear breach of the rules of racing. The statement came five days after the news was first […]
The irony will not be lost on champion harness racing reinsman Anthony Butt should he salute on Joe Pace-trained Supreme Dominator (Bettor’s Delight) in the Golden Reign Free For All at Melton on Saturday night (Apr. 19). Butt and the grand New Zealand mare Blossom Lady did battle with Golden Reign in several of the […]
Hunter Cup king Anthony Butt’s quest for an eighth harness racing win in Victoria’s biggest race is one his biggest challenges. The former Kiwi horseman, who now calls Victoria home, teams up with the gifted but, of late, self-destructive pacer Rock N Roll Doo (Rock N Roll Heaven) in Saturday night’s Group 1 $500,000 feature […]
Champion harness racing driver Anthony Butt flipped the script on the G1 $100,000 Breeders Crown final for 3YO trotting colts & geldings when he was able to find the lead off the mobile for an all-the-way win with Harry Stamper (Majestic Son). The New Zealand bred trotter has shown excellent form since crossing the Tasman […]
It is time to give harness racing’s Inter Dominion some tough love. This year’s series is just weeks away and us diehards cannot wait. The racing will be spirited, the stories will flow and the history of the sport’s most iconic event will carry it a long way. But, and this is a big but, […]
