Kiwi confidence growing ahead of Hunter Cup

Kiwi harness racing greats Anthony Butt and Cran Dalgety know how to win a Hunter Cup.

They also fully understand the importance of good barriers in modern-day racing, which is why their confidence has grown going into Victoria’s biggest race at Melton on Saturday night.

Dalgety, who won the 2014 Hunter Cup with Christen Me, co-trains Auckland Cup winner Republican Party (Bettor’s Delight), who landed the coveted pole position while Butt, who boasts a record seven driving wins in the Hunter Cup, is caretaker trainer and driver of Mark Jones’ emerging Kiwi pacer Tact McLeod (Sweet Lou).

Butt was delighted when Tact McLeod, renowned for his early brilliance, drew barrier three.

Let’s start with Butt given he believes Tact McLeod has the draw and is the right sort of horse to give him his eighth Hunter Cup, but break a drought given it is 12 years since his most recent victory on Mah Sish.

“Put it this way, he’s a better horse than some I’ve won a Hunter Cup on,” he said.

“The draw, not just for my horse but obviously having Leap To Fame drawn where he has (inside the back row, gate eight) really helps our cause.

“The way he began last week, I’m confident he’ll cross Republican Party, hold the rest and lead early and then we’ll have options.

“While I think he’d run a good race leading, his best chance against the absolute best would be sitting on a helmet and having the last shot at them.

“No doubt Swayzee will be off and running early and he’d be a great horse to sit on. His style is to break their hearts and run along, which makes it hard for those covering ground and trying to get into it.

“Sitting on his back would be ideal, especially if Leap To Fame is back in traffic or even had to sit outside him.

Butt said it was only in the past two weeks where he and partner Sonya Smith have been really happy with Tact McLeod.

“He’s just had a series of niggles since coming down to us after the Inter Dominion in Sydney,” he said.

“He tied-up a bit early, then the abscess flared again and there was also a bit of a cough we got on top of by changing a few things.

“I said to everyone he’d jumped out of the ground going into last week and I thought he’d run a great race against Leap To Fame, so it was pleasing he pulled ground off him even though the race was a real sprint home.

“He’ll be a better horse again in six to 12 months with more experience in these top races, but given the draw and run he should get, he’ll run a huge race this week.”

Dalgety said Republican Party might have a strong say against in about Butt’s plan to lead early on Tact McLeod.

“I think he’s got the speed to hold them and Carter has to come out as hard as he can for the first 80m or so to see if that’s the case,” he said.

“Our preference would be to hold-up early, but if we don’t, we’re still on the marker pegs, maybe three-back, and the more I’ve watched the Melton racing lately and spoken to the trainers and drivers, the pegs is the place to be.

“We had to sit outside Leap To Fame last week and I thought he stuck on well. He was gasping between the 500-400m last week, but so too were most others, and he dug in and still finished the race off well.

“He’s shown he’s up with the best Kiwis, but now he’s taking on Australasia’s best and that’s another step-up, but the marbles means we’ll have to do less work than most and that gives us a chance.”

For complete race entries, click here.

by Adam Hamilton, for Harness Racing New Zealand