Freeze the frame – Kim wins Group One

She wasn’t sure if she’d won, but after some discussion among the drivers that featured in the finish of today’s $200,000 Group One Woodlands Stud Sires’ Stakes Two Year Old Final, Kim Butt got the call that she’d won her first Group One.

“Three weeks ago I’d never have dreamt I’d be driving this horse. Now I’ve had two drives for two wins and to leave me on him has been awesome,” she said after winning on the Cran and Chrissie Dalgety trained Freeze Frame (Bettor’s Delight).

The win came after one of the smartest drives of the premier day.

Butt stayed out of the early rush, settling sixth on the outside watching Jumal and Fugitive go to war up front. After sitting on the back of Move It Lou, Butt moved up three wide and sat parked. After a short breather Allamericanplayer came round three wide and the pace was clapped on again with Freeze Frame sitting in the middle of the leading trio. When Fugitive started to drop off, Butt maneuvered Freeze Frame back to the inside and coming up the straight, Jumal, Allamericanplayer and Freeze Frame all took a turn at getting in front. But when it counted Freeze Frame got in the deciding stride.

“She actually needed it (dropping in behind Jumal) because coming wide to get parked I thought she’d need some cover. She found a hole which was bloody great. It ended up being the winning of the race,” said Cran.

The winning time was 2-20.0 just outside One Changes 2019 race record of 2-19.6 and Mister Smartee’s New Zealand record of 2-19.2.

“Those are the bonus wins. We expected to run well, but when you’ve got a $1.30 shot we thought we were just there to pick up the crumbs. It was a real war in the first part of the race and we were lucky enough to have Kim in the right spot at the right time. The main thing with him is that he’s kept improving. He’s actually fooled us a bit for the good. The Ashburton run cleaned him up and he’s been bright since then. We knew he would race well but we didn’t think we’d beat Jumal.”

It’s a race Kim’s all conquering father Anthony never won, but Kimberly remembers leading out Stunin Cullen as a young strapper when her father won the three year old version of this race on this day in 2008.

The result continues the mortgage super sire Bettor’s Delight has had on this race. His progeny have now won an incredible thirteen of the last fourteen editions of the juvenile feature and it was a perfect result for the race sponsors Woodlands Stud, where Bettor’s Delight stands.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink