But for now he will settle for a Harness 5000 win at Ashburton in a fortnight before giving the big boy a well-deserved spell.
Donna’s Boy has made it four wins in eight starts since joining Butt’s team with an easy win at Addington on Friday night, rolling forward and never looking like he was heading.
That followed a win in the Junior Drivers Champs last Friday and a second in the final heat of the World Driving Championships on NZ Cup Day.
So after focusing on the two series, Friday was only the second time Butt has won on the son of Pegasus Spur, but you just know it won’t be the last.
“He could become an open class trotter because he does all this in one preparation,” Butt says.
“He had a few starts for Prop [co-owner Phil Anderson] but he sent him to me to train because he is such a big horse that he had trouble getting around Prop’s track.
“He’s just gotten stronger and he’s got that gate speed which is such a big help.”
DONNA’S BOY REPEAT
Butt says the Harness 5000 meeting on December 21 is the logical target for Donna’s Boy, where he can race other four-year-old male trotters, sired by stallions that fetch less than $5000 over the 1700 metres.
“I think I’ll give him a decent spell afterwards and that will do him a lot of good.”
That will make for a busy weekend for Butt as he will also travel to Invercargill on December 19 so that stable star The Lazarus Effect can take on the Group 1 $100,000 Ascot Park Invercargill Cup, for which he earned a ticket with his brave final start second to Kingman in the Christian Cullen two weeks ago.
Donna’s Boy wasn’t the only four-year-old trotter to turn heads at Addington, with Princess Sadie appearing in the unusual role of swooper in the opening race.
Like many horses that have gate speed, she showed that she can be just as powerful when ridden in one run, but although she has not won a race worth more than $100,000 (the Harness 5000 qualifying limit), Princess Sadie is ineligible because her sire Muscle Mass was over $5000 the year she was conceived.
Later in the evening, JT Boe thought hard about life before deciding he wanted to win the evening’s main event in the style of a good pacer, albeit one who still has a bit of learning to do.
He gave trainers Team Telfer three wins for the evening as they came within seven of the long-standing national training record of 168.
For full race results, click here
Through Michael Guerinfor Harness Racing New Zealand
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