What Bart Cummings is to the Melbourne Cup, Anthony Butt is to the A.G. Hunter Cup – a true champion with a record seven victories spanning more than 30 years.
The Kiwi reinsman sits in clear air at the top of the honour roll with not even the late great Vin Knight coming close with two successes.
The 58-year-old won his first Hunter Cup in 1994 with Blossom Lady, who also gifted Butt his second the very next year.
“I won most when I was based in New Zealand and it was always a really good race for the New Zealand horses,” Butt said.
“You could come through the New Zealand Cup in the spring and get them used to the standing starts, and it always suited the New Zealand horses really well.”
The current distance of 2760m is much shorter than Butt’s first win in 1994 over 3280m, with the race moving from a standing start to a mobile in 2017.
“It is a long-distance race. They need to have a good foundation before they get here. It’s not like a sprint race,” he said.
“It is one of the three bigger races in Australia with the Miracle Mile and the Inter Dominion. Great horses were winning even before my time.
“I always found the big races are the easiest to drive in and all the form is easily exposed – you know the horses and the strengths and weaknesses, and you know how things are going to pan out.
“It’s easier to drive in maybe over a maiden race in the bush.”
The Harkness-based horseman’s last win came over a decade ago in 2013 with Mah Sish, but the winner of over 60 Group 1 races puts his maiden Hunter Cup at the top.
“The first one with Blossom Lady because I was pretty young and I brought her for my grandfather who was training her,” he said. “That was my first big win in Australia, but they have all been good and they’ve all been different with different story lines.
“Mister D G (2004) was great because he was the son of Blossom Lady with the same group of owners.
“Mr Feelgood (2009) was also great because he had just come over from the U.S.A.”
The honour that comes with being a seven-time champion is not lost on Butt.
“When you start driving, you wish you could win any of those big races,” he said. “As a kid growing up, all the best Kiwis would race all the best Aussies.”
Butt will chase his eighth Sportsbet Hunter Cup on Saturday at Melton Entertainment Park with Tact Mcleod for Kiwi trainer Mark Jones.
The horse produced a top performance to finish a close second to champion rival Leap To Fame in Saturday night’s Casey Classic.
The Hunter Cup will be one of two major features on the February 1 card at Melton alongside the Group 1 Great Southern Star for the trotters.
In the Great Southern Star, horses compete in heats early in the night and then qualifiers back up for the final later in the evening.
