Top Group driver ready to collect more classic cups

Anthony Butt is well placed to shape Saturday night’s racing and add two more classic cups to his extraordinary collection.

The leading reinsman will drive Amazing Dream from gate three in the Decron Cranbourne Pacing Cup and $1.40 favourite Majestic Man in the Hygain Bruce Skeggs Cranbourne Trotters Cup, and he joined SEN Track’s Trots Life this week to talk about their chances.

“(The cup’s) a really good field,” Butt said. “The draw’s made it interesting for everybody. A lot of horses and drivers will think they have a really good chance. It will be an intriguing race.”

Amazing Dream has Supreme Dominator and Bettor Be The Bomb on her inside, while favourite Copy That and prodigiously talented General Dodge drew wide front line gates.

It raises a number of intriguing scenarios, but across a series of Grand Circuit and Group 1 wins the Nathan Purdon-trained Amazing Dream has more than proved her versatility.

“She’s just been a fantastic filly,” Butt said. “She’s probably flown under the radar a little bit, she hasn’t been probably the glamour filly or mare that we have seen in the past, but she just keeps getting the job done. She’s proven at the top level and you just can’t underestimate her.”

Also well proven is Majestic Man, who’s the class horse of the Group 3 trotters cup and steps straight in from the Inter Dominion Trotting Championship despite having raced four times since November 27.

His ID21 concluded with a bold second behind Maori Law in the final and the 19-time winner’s recovery convinced Butt he was ready to plow straight into the Cranbourne feature.

“We were rapt with his run in the final,” Butt said. “He loomed up to win at the 200 and just couldn’t quite get past the other horse. He seems really back to his best again.

“We were keen to give him a week off really, but he’s just come through the final so good – even Sunday morning we put him out in the paddock and it’s probably the best he’s been. He was kicking and bucking and running around for about 10 minutes.

“We got him back to Melbourne on Monday and we couldn’t have been happier with him. The numbers were probably a little lighter than we thought it may have been, we talked about it with (New Zealand trainer) Phil (Williamson) and we think it’s a really good option for him.”

It will be the start of a big Victorian summer for Majestic Man, who will tackle much of the Aurora Australis series.

Click here to view the fields for Cranbourne on Saturday.

CLICK: LISTEN TO ANTHONY BUTT ON SEN TRACK’S TROTS LIFE