It came in the Greaves Brothers and Peter McCallum Memorials Trot for the driver-trainer combination of Andre Poutama and Roddy Butt.
A former winner of the 2022 Group 1 New Zealand Trotting Derby at Addington as a three-year-old, Nazareth showed immense promise early in his career under the care of Robert and Jenna Dunn. However, persistent hoof pain began to take its toll, ultimately derailing the talented gelding’s progress.
Butt says the horse’s journey has always been a personal one.
“I bred him myself and then sold him at the yearling sale. I kept 10 percent of him for fun and he went to Robert and Jenna Dunn. They did a fantastic job with him,” he said.
Despite his early success, persistent foot problems proved difficult to manage, prompting Butt to step back and take over training in mid-2025.
“He started having a lot of problems with his feet, that’s why his form dropped off,” Butt said.
“I decided to start working with him as a kind of project, gave him a good spell and we worked with his feet. It’s been a bit of a struggle at times, but we feel like we’re starting to get somewhere with him.”
NAZARETH REPEAT
Looking for the right conditions to help Love You’s son, Butt made the decision to send Nazareth north from his base in Canterbury, focusing on the grass circuits of the Central District, which are generally friendlier to horses prone to foot pain.
“He likes grass, so I thought the grass paths there might be good for him,” he said. “He was struggling a bit here at Canterbury so I thought it was a good opportunity to send him there and I’m glad it paid off.”
Nazareth rewarded that confidence with a polished performance on Tuesday, settling into the course throughout before sprinting home strongly to score by two lengths, showing a glimpse of the class that once made him one of the best young trotters in the country.
It was his sixth victory in 43 starts.
Looking ahead, Butt is content to temper expectations and is simply enjoying seeing the gelding competitive again.
“There are absolutely no expectations from him,” he said. “He’s an older horse with a few issues, and we’re just happy he’s still a racehorse.”
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Through Jordyn Bublitz for Harness Racing New Zealand
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