By Matt Markham
The New Zealand Trotting Cup dream for Merv and Meg Butterworth became very real yesterday at Kaikoura.
The big spending Australian owners stood true to a promise they made to Kaikoura Trotting Club president, Bob Rochford 12 months ago and returned to the seaside venue yesterday and witnessed their star staying pacer Arden Rooney become just the sixth horse to win back-to-back editions of the Kaikoura Cup.
And even just minutes after the race, Merv Butterworth was contemplating making the same promise once more.
“All going well I can’t see any reason why we won’t be back here again,’’ he said.
“This is just a wonderful day at the races and the Kaikoura Club are great people to deal with and look after us so well.
“It’s actually a privilege to have a horse racing here.’’
And while keeping a promise to a good friend was the major reason behind the return yesterday there were some ulterior motives too. The Butterworth’s and their trainer Kerryn Manning needed to make a statement ahead of next week’s New Zealand Trotting Cup – and they did exactly that. Last season’s Hunter Cup winner ran his opposition into the dirt and managed to hold out a spirited late challenge from Messini to claim the major prize.
“He was fantastic,’’ Manning said.
“There is always that little hint of hesitation when you bring a horse over here because you don’t know how they are going to measure up to the form.
“We obviously know just how good he is, but you don’t get that true indication until you actually line up.
“And that’s half of the reason we came here today, instead of going into the Cup fresh.
“I’m pleased we did.’’
Arden Rooney gave his followers a few heart murmurs early on when he made a real hash of the stand start and galloped for 20 metres before settling back into his hopples, but Manning didn’t seem too concerned about it.
“He seems to do that when he’s drawn on the front line – he actually did it in the Hunter Cup too but not as bad as he did today.
“He’s fine when he’s off a handicap but the open spaces seem to fire him up a little.
“I may consider taking him out of the draw, we will just see.’’
With that first nervous assignment out of the way, Manning can rest a little easier over the next week as she builds towards Cup Day.
Equally as relaxed following the race was Mark Purdon who gave a glowing reference to the performance of Messini who came from a mile back to boom home and miss by a narrow margin.
“He was really flying late and I actually thought we were going to get there for a minute but the post just come up a bit too quickly.
“But it’s another great step by him, he’s going great and seems to really love being able to try and get over the top of them which is a good sign heading into a Cup.’’
Mighty Flying Mac was the best of the beaten brigade in third place while both Te Kawau and Brilliant Strike should secure themselves a spot in the Cup off the back of their fourth and fifth placings respectively – especially following the withdrawals of both Christen Me and Bit Of A Legend.
Question marks still hang over Franco Nelson who will head to the Ashburton workouts today but there is every chance that if he does enough to impress Michael House he may still start in the Cup.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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