Merv losing plenty of sleep over upcoming Victoria Derby - NZ Trotting Cup double
Merv Butterworth admits he’s not sleeping the best.
Even for one of Australasia’s biggest racehorse owners, the stakes just got pretty big.
Never mind that Butterworth and his wife Meg have star pacer Copy That and crack trotter Sacred Mountain attempting to win from huge handicaps at Cambridge tonight. In the next 11 days they will have favourites running in two of the biggest races on the calendar in both the thoroughbred and harness codes.
Tomorrow, in the Butterworths’ home town of Melbourne, new-star-on-the-block Sharp ’N’ Smart will start top fancy at Flemington in the A$2 million Victoria Derby, the country’s most prized three-year-old crown that has been contested since 1855.
And just 10 days later they have current co-favourite Copy That attempting to win New Zealand’s most prestigeous harness race for Lincoln Farms, the $600,000 New Zealand Trotting Cup, for the second year on end.
“I doubt this double’s ever been done before,” says Butterworth. “The more you think about it, the more sleep you lose. And now it’s interrupting my days as well as the nights.”
Attending early morning trackwork at Flemington on Thursday did little to settle the nerves either, hearing champion jockey James McDonald climb off Sharp ’N’ Smart and say: ‘Wow, what a horse’.
The derby will be JMac’s first raceday spin on the horse but effervescent trainer Graeme Rogerson has filled him with plenty of confidence.
“Rogey says the horse is perfect and has improved from his last run. He reckons the only thing that could beat us is a super heavy track.”
Butterworth has enjoyed more than 1000 wins as an owner but none of them have had a bankroll of A$1.57 million after just seven starts, the A$2 million Spring Champion Stakes his latest scalp.
And to think he and Meg could have had a 25% share in the gelding, rather than 12.5% along with his five partners.
“I told Rogey, no, 12.5% was enough.”
Butterworth has said no to Rogey plenty of times since he met the man who could sell a smoke-blowing VW to an Arab oil sheikh.
“I was sitting in the lounge at Addington on Show Day in 2015 when I saw him sitting by himself. I’d never met him but I knew who he was and said: ’Oi, come and join us.
“I bought him a lemon, lime and bitters, we started talking, and …”
You know what’s coming next, Butterworth, flush from Arden Rooney’s win in the $765,000 New Zealand Trotting Cup three days earlier, was on Rogey’s owners’ list.
Not all the horses Butterworth said ‘yes’ to in the interim have hit the headlines but his interest was kept intact when flashy galloper Mascarpone took our the $220,000 Otaki Weight-For-Age Classic in February, only to go amiss.
Butterworth has the six inch high Maori carving trophy from the Otaki feature on his mantelpiece at home but is hoping to replace it with a more lavish one on Saturday.
Winning the derby would be some feat by the Redwood gelding who cost just $55,000 as a yearling and wasn’t wanted at the two-year-old ready-to-run sale, failing to reach his $90,000 reserve.
But Rogerson has won the derby before, in 2006 with Efficient who went on to win the Melbourne Cup the following year.
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Friday’s Lincoln Farms Franklin Cup all about the standing start manners of Aussie raider
Our runners this week
Tuesday at Cambridge
Colonel Lincoln, Onyx Shard, Commander Lincoln, Debbie Lincoln, Kevin Kline, Lincoln La Moose, The Big Lebowski.
Our runners this week: How our trainers rate them
Ray’s comments
Thursday night at Cambridge
Race 2: Commander Lincoln
5.51pm
“Back to Cambridge and the easier amateur ranks he can get some of it. He’s an honest little horse who pays his way.”
Race 4: Onyx Shard
6.49pm
“She’s a nice filly who is training really well and it wouldn’t surprise me to see her in the money in spite of the outside draw. She’d be one of the best in that field and is definitely an each-way chance.”
Race 6: Colonel Lincoln
7.39pm
“He hasn’t raced for nearly 21 months but his training has been good and he should go well first-up. He’s a beautiful, big horse who probably lacks a yard of speed to be a real super horse but he’s got everything else. I expect him to go well against this lot.”
Race 7: Lincoln La Moose
8.04pm
“He’s training well and has surprised us before, like when he won his first start at Cambridge like a monster after breaking on the first turn. It’s always the way when they win their first start - it makes things hard for them after that - but he’s travelling well now and is capable of being in it.”
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 4: Lincoln Lou
7.09pm
“He’ll be relying on a heap of good luck from the second row. His last run was a non-event. The poor little bugger couldn’t have done a better job of finding trouble. He’s trained on all right.”
Race 4: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.09pm
“He’s training really well and he showed last time what a big motor he had, losing all that ground early and still getting up to win. He’s not famous for his gate speed but as long as he gets away safely then Maurice can put him in the race at the right time. There are a lot of horses in there that aren’t that safe who could stand on their ear. Navigating through them is always a worry. He’ll need some luck but he could give them a fright.”
Race 6: Frisco Bay
8.05pm
“He obviously can’t beat Duchess Megxit or Jeremiah but if he gets a good trip he’s a chance of getting some money. Things didn’t suit him last time - being out three wide then going to the front. He’s so hot, he over-races. He goes best if he’s allowed to slop out and find the back of something, when he generally relaxes. Even if he got back a bit, that would be all right, so long as he gets sucked along.”