Covid keeps Merv and Meg away but they’re putting the champagne on ice for Copy That

Even before today’s announcement that Victoria’s lockdown would be extended by seven days, owner Merv Butterworth had decided Copy That would have to run at Sunday’s Jewels without him.

Butterworth, 78, and his wife Meg last night abandoned plans to fly from Melbourne to New Zealand in the face of daily increases in the number of Covid-19 cases in the community.

“There are so many infectious now we thought mixing with hundreds of people at the airport and on the plane wasn’t a good idea.

“We decided we were better off continuing to isolate and get in a couple of buckets of ice and champagne bottles.”

The Covid-19 lockdown in Victoria was scheduled to end on Friday but with another six cases notified today, 60 cases in all and 350 exposure sites, it has now been extended until midnight on Thursday, June 10.

Merv Butterworth has enjoyed a great run with Copy That who has now won 17 races for him.Butterworth will have to be content with watching the Cambridge Jewels meeting from his home, with no visitors, but he has had a few bets to keep him interested.

“He’s at excellent odds. I’m not worried about the draw. It would have been nice if we’d drawn one, two, three or four but he’s the best horse in the race.

“I got on at $3.40, then had to divide my second bet by four to get on again and they wouldn’t let me have a third go. You’d think it was their own money.”

The TAB bookies listed the early betting on Copy That as $2000 at $3.40 and $500 at $3.40, the horse’s odds now tightened to $3.20.

Butterworth says he’s also taken a string of multis, as he can see a majority of the favourites winning on Sunday.

The Butterworths are no stranger to success on Jewels day, scored back-to-back wins at Cambridge in 2014 with King Denny and Supersonic Miss, and will be chasing their sixth win on Sunday.

He and his wife Meg have enjoyed success with:

• Cyclone U Bolt, twice. He took the 2012 Three-Year-Old Ruby at Cambridge and 2013 Four-Year-Old Ruby at Ashburton.
• King Denny, who also won trotting jewels twice - the Three-Year-Old Ruby at Cambridge in 2014 and Four-Year-Old Ruby at Ashburton in 2015 and
• Supersonic Miss, who won the 2014 Two-Year-Old Diamond at Cambridge.

Their placings at the Jewels date back to the inaugural event in 2007 and very first race when Lucy Thundercloud ran third as rank outsider, paying $33, behind $81 upsetter GTH Aveross.

Their other placings include:

* Nokomai who ran third to Adore Me in the Three-Year-Old Diamond at Ashburton in 2013.

* Golden Goddess, who finished second in the Three-Year-Old Diamond at Cambridge in 2016 and

* President Roydon who ran a neck second to Enghein in the Three-Year-Old Ruby at Ashburton in 2017.

Few owners have enjoyed as much success at the Jewels as the Butterworths, who raced all except Supersonic Miss on their own.

But prolific winners Phil and Glenys Kennard have won 13 Jewels in syndicates, Trevor Casey has enjoyed nine wins and the late Charlie Roberts six.