Minstrel NZ Photo by Brett Atkins
REMARKABLE veteran Minstrel has been a life changer to not just one, but three women.
His original New Zealand owner-breeder Catherine Butt, driver Deni Roberts and co-trainer Skye Bond all say Minstrel is as special a horse as they’ve had anything to do with, albeit in varying ways.
The rising nine-year-old pacer can add another chapter to his enduring and stellar career when he tackles the $A450,000 Group 1 Western Australian Pacing Cup – WA’s most prestigious harness race – for a fifth consecutive time at Gloucester Park on December 12.
Minstrel won it for the first time last year after finishing third in (December) 2023, seventh in (January) 2023 and fifth at his first attempt back in January, 2022.
Roberts insists the old boy is going better than ever and is “definitely” the horse to beat at his title defence.
“The (barrier) draw is always important, especially here at Gloucester Park, but I took a lot of confidence out of his latest win (in last Friday’s Group 2 JP Stratton Cup) where he beat Mister Smartee and Magnificent Storm on their merits … and they’re the other two big guns of this (WA) Cup,” she said.
“They both had their chance and he did the work and beat them. Put it this way, as good as they both are, I don’t think either of them could do what Minstrel did the other night and win. That’s why he’s the benchmark.”
While Minstrel did the work outside Magnificent Storm in the latest clash and proved too strong, Roberts thinks it is the gelding’s sharpness which has improved despite his age.
“He’s just got more speed this time in,” she said. “It’s hard to know exactly why, maybe it’s the fact he had a really good spell this time.
“I think this is his time of year, too. He gets to the beach most days and for a horse who’s had plenty of issues with his feet, that’s great for him.
“There’s the Naval Base beach only about a 10 minute drive from the stables. It does wonders for him.”
Bond agrees about the beach, adding Minstrel’s feet issues have long been a challenge.
“He’s been high maintenance, mainly because of his feet. It’s not the first time I’ve done it with him, but we’ve had fibreglass patches put in the walls of his feet for his past four or five runs and I’m sure it makes a big difference.
“I think it’s fair to say he’s never raced better and you sort of continually pinch yourself when he’s a rising nine-year-old.
“Those past few runs have been right up with the best of his career and his point-to-point speed has never been better.”
Bond, who trains in partnership with her husband Greg, fell for Minstrel more than anyone when he first moved across from New Zealand in late 2020.
“When he came over he was a bit quirky and there was a time when Greg (Bond) was talking about selling him (to the US), but something drew me to him,” she recalled.
“Not many give you the feel he does when you sit behind him. I kept saying that and since then we’ve become really close.
“I call him the horse of a lifetime. It really is a privilege to have him.”
Minstrel’s record stands at 76 starts for 29 wins, 18 seconds, eight thirds and $A1,708,303 in prize money.
Along with his four WA Cups, Minstrel has also contested four Group 1 Fremantle Cups for a win in 2022 and seconds in 2023 and earlier this year.
He is on target to contest WA’s richest harness race, the $A1.25 million Group 1 Nullarbor for a third consecutive time next April. Minstrel ran second in 2024 and third in last year’s race.
Before leaving, when trained by Catherine and Davey Butt, Minstrel raced 10 times for four wins and five placings, including a third to the then benchmark pacer Copy That in the 2020 Group 2 3YO Flying Stakes.
“Out model is to breed and sell the boys and use that money to keep and breed from the girls,” Catherine Butt said. “So, this guy was for sale from the start, but being a Rocknroll Hanover he wasn’t really commercial as a yearling so we kept him to race early.”
The Bonds were one of a few who tried to buy Minstrel from Catherine and David Butt, and their fellow family members who race the pacer, but he failed a few vet tests with minor things and didn’t sell.
“With the early form he showed, we got some really good offers so we were disappointed when the sales didn’t go through,” Butt said.
“Greg (Bond) said he always kept an eye on the horse and eventually came back and said would we sell him half and keep the other half to race with him.
“What a blessing in disguise it’s been. Along with a trotting mare Habibti (winner of 16 races and almost $NZ400,000), who like Minstrel we bred and raced, Minstrel is the best horse we’ve had.
“To think he’d leave here five years and do what he’s done, let alone still be racing this week, is incredible.
“Greg and Skye have done the most wonderful job keeping him racing, especially at this top level.
“The joy he’s given us and other family members who have a share in him has been immense. David and I have been to watch him in those two Nullarbors and when he ran second in the (Sydney) Inter Dominion (last December).
“My sister-in-law (Penny Calder) is heading across with her husband to fly the flag for us owners at the WA Cup this time.”
Skye Bond said Minstrel, who’s stable name is “Davey” after Davey Butt, commands just as much respect around the stable.
“They all tell me it’s Davey’s World and we’re just living it,” she laughed.
Roberts, who has developed from one of Australia’s top young drivers to one of the best full stop, credits Minstrel with shaping her career.
“He’s been a career-changing horse,” she said. “I said to Skye (Bond) the other day he was my once-in-a-lifetime horse and she said: ‘don’t be like, you’re young, you’ll get another one’, but I don’t think I’ll have one mean as much to me Minstrel does to me.
“He’s been my turning point horse. I think all good drivers will say they’ve had one, like Gary Hall Jr’s over (WA) here was The Falcon Strike when he was younger.
“When we took him to the Sydney Inter Dominion a year ago there was a bit of thinking it could be his last go at a really big one, but he loved it and I think he’s actually come home a better horse for it.”
While Bond is now fully focused on defending that WA Cup crown, she admits one recent regret.
“We were so close to taking over to run in the NZ Cup (last month) and I wish we did with how well he’s going,” she said.
“It’s a bucket list race, the two-mile standing-start would really have suited him, and what a moment it would have been, taking him back home after all this time to run in NZ’s biggest race in front of the people who bred him and still race him with us.
“Who knows, the way he’s going we may still get a chance to do that next year?”
Maybe. It certainly seems Minstrel is racing like he doesn’t know how old he is.
