Debbie Lincoln storms to Tasman Empress Final win

t has been a rewarding week for popular Canterbury horsewoman Kim Butt.

Because not only did she drive the first training win for close friend and stable supporter Joshua Davine at Addington on Friday night but she found out her legendary father Anthony Butt is returning home to the region.

Butt rated Debbie Lincoln (Lather Up) perfectly in the Majestic Horse Floats Tasman Empress Final, the former northern mare whizzing home in 26.8 seconds to win easily.

Debbie Lincoln was recently purchased by the usually Australia- based Davine, who has made a huge splash in harness racing in recent years with big-money yearling buys as well as supporting slot races and driver’s series.

Davine has a trainers licence in Australia, even though that isn’t his main aspiration in the industry, and decided to work with Debbie Lincoln while spending time in New Zealand this summer.

“Josh bought her recently and she is now down here stabled with Cran and Chrissie (Dalgety) but Josh is there most days working her and learning heaps from them,” says Butt.

“He loves the horses and racing so much and he is so thrilled to get a training win tonight.

“It means a lot to me as he is such a great guy and has supported us all the way through so I really enjoyed that.”

Debbie Lincoln could pay back plenty of her hefty purchase price back in coming weeks too as she has the $60,000 Garrards Premier Mares Championship at Addington next Friday and the $100,000 Faheys Fence Hire NZ Breeders at Group 1 level back there on February 13.

DEBBIE LINCOLN REPLAY

Another mare from the Dalgety property is likely to be waiting for her there after Beside Me returned to winning form in the main pace on Friday.

She was confidently driven by Carter Dalgety early to across her rivals and never looked in danger of defeat, cruising home in 56 seconds for her last 800m to suggest she is approaching something like the form that had her rated one of our best three-year-old fillies this time last year.

She is of course co-trained by Chrissie Dalgety, who also gets her brother back home with the return of Anthony Butt, which was announced on Thursday.

“It will be cool to have Dad back here,” says Kim.

“He and Sonya have thought about coming home on and off for a while but when he got the offer to work at Stonewall it was a bit of a no-brainer and it will be wonderful to have him here for all of us but also great for harness racing.”

For complete race results, click here.

by Michael Guerin, for Harness Racing New Zealand