By Duane Ranger (courtesy of Redcliffe Paceway)
Trot Rods 2024 Invitation Driver, Anthony Butt, who has won multiple Group Ones and more than $20 million in purses was destined for a high-profile rugby career before he achieved a personal milestone at Redcliffe Paceway 40 years ago this month.
The 58-year-old said on hindsight he probably wouldn’t have had it any other way, but soon after opting for trotting over rugby, Butt never forgot his first visit to Redcliffe Paceway on May 4, 1984.
“It was two years after I was selected as a utility back for the South Island Under-16s to play the North Island. I only started driving in 1984, and I remember coming to Australia for the Australasian Junior Driving Championships that year.
“I drove my first Australian winner at Redcliffe, so it will always be pretty special to me. I like the track, and anything new in harness racing. The Club up there has always thought outside the square, and personally I think any innovation has to be great for the sport. I like difference in harness racing,” Melton (Victoria) based Butt said.
“My family have always been heavily involved in harness racing, but who knows where my life would have gone had professional rugby been around back then. My team-mates Stephen Bachop and Andrew McCormack went on to be All Blacks,” he added.
The winner of that 2,100m Junior Drivers Heat at Redcliffe Paceway four decades ago was Looney Walker. Butt got the Meadow Looney gelding home by 7.5 metres with a 2:03.7 mile-rate.
Butt sad he didn’t hesitate when the Redcliffe Harness Racing Club asked him to be the lone interstate ‘wild card’ for the ‘Trot Rod 2024 Grand Final Night’ this Wednesday evening (May 29).
“There were many positives for coming. The track, the club, the innovation, the weather, and of course my brother Tim and his wife Andrea, and kids live up there. I’m looking forward to the 10 heats over the one-lap sprint distance (947m mobile). I‘ve driven at a lot of tracks here in Australia and throughout the world, but I’ve never come across anything like ‘The Triangle’,” Butt said.
That’s a huge statement considering the Canterbury born-and-educated Kiwi has driven at tracks throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada. Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Wales, and The Netherlands.
“Redcliffe has its own unique way about it and I’ve been back here many times over the years and won some nice races. I can’t even think of one track that resembles Redcliffe. Perhaps the old Moonee Valley grass track, but that’s a stretch. Tim and Riley enjoy living here and I know I’m going to have a good time on Wednesday (May 29) because I’m looking forward to it. It is exciting with the new camera angles and the ‘miked’ up drivers,” Butt said.
“It’s another ‘first’ to tick off,” he added.
Butt is a regular Sunshine State regular these days campaigning in the winter during the Queensland Constellations. He has bagged some nice races at ‘The Triangle’ in four decades. Two include the Redcliffe 2019 and 2021 Derbies when Make Way and Krug were victorious.
“Redcliffe has always been good to me. I also remember racing at Redcliffe with Flashing Red between his two New Zealand Cup wins (2006 and 2007). We ran second to Atomic Art in the Redcliffe Gold Cup (August 2007).
Meanwhile, Redcliffe Harness Racing Club President Bernie Ring said it was an honour to have a world-class driver coming to Redcliffe to take on Australia’s 2023 champion driver, Nathan Dawson.
“Anthony is world class and has won so many big races including Group Ones throughout the world, and he’s no stranger to Redcliffe, having won our own Derbies. He comes up against some of our best drivers here in Queensland spearheaded by national champion, Nathan. I’m sure he will enjoy it and I’m sure he will perform well like our previous guest drivers, James Herbertson and Cameron Hart, did,” ring said.
Ring said the Trot Rods concept had continued to soar in popularity since its inception in 2020.
“It’s a unique idea which is attracting great interest locally, in Australia and across the Tasman. I just want to thank Tuza Floats for their sponsorship of a three-horse angle float for the winner. They are a well-known company in the equine industry and we are proud to have them on board. They have been with us since day one, and we can’t thank them enough for their on-going support.
“The Series Finals night will be shown on Sky 2 with Ryan Phelan, Brittany Graham and one of our top drivers, Angus Garrard as their guest commentator. Best of luck to everyone involved,” Ring said.
Butt will compete against record-breaking Queensland reinsman and National Champion, Nathan Dawson, as well as three other Queensland-based drivers – Nathan Rothwell, Brendan Barnes, and Leonard Cain were selected amongst the established drivers.
The time to beat is 59.49 set by the Peter Greig trained Master Charles in Heat 10 last Wednesday. Don’t be surprised if Butt’s driving prowess beats that – no matter who he’s driving.
Last year the Trent Moffat trained Vanity Bay recorded the fastest time of 63.8 seconds. It came in the 17th of the 20 heats on the final night on May 24. Vanity Bay’s time was the second quickest ever recorded in four years of the Trot Rods Series. Ricky Thurlow trained and Cam Hart driven Just Dessy set the quickest time of 63.4 seconds in 2022.
Wednesday’s (May 29) Trot Rods fields for Grand Final night can be viewed here:
https://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=RE290524
Footnote: The writer of this story used to cover Club Rugby in Canterbury many moons ago. Without a doubt from what I saw… both Butt brothers – Tim and Anthony – could have easily made it to the top of the New Zealand Rugby Union tree. They both represented their province with ease. Then along came the beautiful standardbred.
