Bet N Win
KIWI driver Bob Butt has a weapon he hasn’t used on top young trotter Bet N Win yet and Saturday time is the time to unleash it.
Butt knows the difference between winning and losing the $500,000 Ladbrokes Inter Dominion trotting final could be what happens in the first 200m of the gruelling 3157m race.
That's why, for the first time in Bet N Win’s 26-start career, Butt will cut the gelding loose at the start in search of the lead.
“He’s led a few times, but done it under his own steam without me really asking him,” Butt said.
“This series has shown the huge advantage of being in front or at least the marker pegs (inside). I’ve got to have a real crack at getting there.”
Bet N Win, the $3.50 second favourite, has drawn gate five, but will move into four if emergency Sir Fahrenheit doesn’t gain a start.
The crucial challenge is having $2.50 favourite Arcee Phoenix drawn in gate one.
“I think we can give it a real shake (getting across). I have to have a crack for a lead and ask more of my horse at the start than I ever have before. There’s more speed there than people have seen, it’s just a matter of how much when I really ask him
“This is the time to see how much (speed) he’s really got because It could go a long way to deciding who wins the race.”
Butt said Bet N Win’s professionalism gives him the confidence to be daring at the start.
“He’s a great racehorse, almost your perfect racehorse,” he said. “A lot of horses you’d be worried about pushing them off the gate hard, but not him.
“You can use him early and then he’ll just spit the bit out and relax again. It’s probably his greatest quality.
“Even if I go hard this week and don't get across, he’ll relax in the running line and be somewhere handy.”
Bet N Win opened his Australian campaign with an easy Menangle win and has since followed with two cosy qualifying heat wins at Albion Park.
“Things couldn’t have gone better so far and he’s come through the heats well. Now he’s got a good draw, too,” he said.
This is Butt’s first drive in an Inter Dominion final and as part of one of NZ’s iconic harness racing families, he knows the enormity and history of the race.
“Growing up as a kid, it’s THE race you wanted to be part of, let alone win,” he said.
“My earliest memory is Lyell Creek winning that Melbourne (Inter Dominion) final (in 2000). What a champion he was.
“Just being part of this series has been awesome, to win is the stuff you dream about.”
Butt is also out to restore Kiwi pride in the trotting final, with Australians winning the past four finals.
It was an NZ dominance with 20 wins across just 24 finals between 1989 and 2012.
NZ’s other finalist, nine-year-old millionaire Oscar Bonavena, is also primed for the final despite galloping in both heats.
“He’s come through it well and going to the back row will help. He’s as good as we’ve had him and if he puts it all together, which we’re confident he will, he’s good enough to win,” co-trainer Mark Purdon said.
PHOTO:
Dan Costello
