 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2003
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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For Tim Butt, winning the major trotting races isn't as simple as just turning up. It might look that way from the outside, because if you have just started to tune in to harness racing over the last couple of weeks you would have heard Butt's name mentioned a lot. Take A Moment is sweeping all before him at the Inter-Doms, proving beyond doubt that he has filled the massive hole left by Lyell Creek. And last week Butt stamped his name on another trophy when Thedonsson scored an emphatic victory in the $50,000 Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Derby at Addington.
Taken to the front in the 2600 metre mobile event, Thedonsson pinged along in near record pace and was being eased down a long way from the winning post when Belle Galleon closed the margin to under three lengths. The win itself was easy, but getting Thedonsson to produce his best on racenight was quite the opposite. "That is the hardest Group race I will ever win," Butt said afterwards, summing up what has been a trying time for him and his staff at Premier Stables. "Everything was progressing along nicely when he won the Hambletonian at Ashburton last month, but then for no particular reason he started trotting roughly. He lost his gait, and his confidence. It was frustrating, because at his peak we know he is one of the best 3-year-olds around," Butt said.
The West Melton trainer put his trotter's problems down to muscle soreness and growing pains, which hit home when Thedonsson broke during the running at each of his next two starts. So Butt set about trying to rectify the situation, placing the gelding on the 'extra care and attention' list. Thedonsson had a couple of visits to renowned chiropractor Fred Fletcher, and his back was also massaged by stable employee Sam Smolenski twice a day - firstly after being worked and then again at night when brought in for a brush. "It was a case of getting the soreness out of each part of his body," Butt said. "Then he got a couple of corns in front, and had to be bathed twice a day for that as well. This win has been a great team effort."
Thedonsson has now won three from eight and $50,951, and will head to Auckland on Sunday week to prepare for the NRM Sires' Stakes Trotters Championship (April 24) and PGG Great Northern Trotting Derby (May 2). "He is not going to Australia at this stage," Butt said. "With a horse like him, the costs and stakemoney don't really add up. It is a $15,000 round trip, so he would have to win either the Derby or the Holmfield to break even. To do a trip like that you have to have a horse that is complete, and at this stage he is not. He is slightly immature, and travelling generally causes those little niggly problems to resurface.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 02Apr03