Butcher on the board in 2026 with Cambridge win

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk 

Before last night Benjamin Butcher hadn't trained a winner this year.

But at Cambridge Barbarossa got him on the board in emphatic fashion as the combo cleared out to a nearly five length win in the Dunstan Horsefeed Mobile Pace.

It was his first training success since taking out the Newcomer to Training award at the HRNZ awards last month.

"I was a bit surprised to win that - it was good," says Butcher.

After joining the training ranks in 2024 he has now had 11 wins, training a team of seven alongside his father David. 

"There are 17 horses between the two of us so that keeps us busy."    

Last night Barbarossa looped the field to take control of the race and never looked seriously threatened to record his 11th victory overall. 

"He was hitting the wheels with his feet so he was on the job and I wasn't going to muck around with him," says Butcher.

The win took the Captaintreacherous eight-year-old past $150,000 in stakes earnings.

"He's just such a cool horse," says Butcher, "he just loves being out there."

"In the last three years he would have run 30 races each year."

He has had 135 starts overall with his busiest season being the 33 starts he had last year with three wins and $41,000 in stakes.

Tonight Butcher will have three drives at Alexandra Park - Almighty (R1), Louezyana (R2) and Time For A Change (R5).

Louezyana and Time For A Change are trained by Benjamin's father and brother who have trans-Tasman commitments this weekend.

Zachary is the sole Kiwi at the Ultimate Driving Championship (UDC) in Brisbane. He is up against nine others in a 20 race series over two nights at Albion Park, starting tonight.

Parents David and Wanda have also headed off already to support him as have other members of the wider family.

"I was going to go too but have a friend's wedding on," says Benjamin.

"I'm sure they will have a good time."