The Anthony Butt - Stonewall combo strike at Alexandra Park

By Michael Guerin

The Anthony Butt comeback tour made it two from two at our premier tracks at Alexandra Park on Friday night.

But this time the champion driver is back for good.

The 59-year-old has been living in Victoria for much of the last decade but moves back to his native Canterbury this weekend.

He made an early trip home to drive Tour Party to win at Addington for family Cran and Chrissie Dalgety last week and this Friday it was Alexandra Park’s turn to welcome the great driver back.

It went well.

Butt was at his aggressive best when launching Allamericanplayer down the back straight in the $35,000 Metro Pacing Final before the three-year-old showed great fight to hold on to win second-up.

“It is great to be back here and even though I don’t think I had driven here since the Inters in 2019, going back to right-handed driving didn’t feel weird at all,” says Butt.

“I came home last week for that Addington drive then went back to Victoria for a few days but we are now back for good.

“I start work at Stonewall on Monday and they are already putting me to work driving at Invercargill on Sunday.

“It is awesome to be back and getting on some good horses because that is really hard to do in Victoria unless you are driving for a big barn like Emma Stewart or Andy Gath and they have the own drivers.”

Butt says the drop off in New Zealand horses travelling to the Eastern Seaboard didn’t help either.

“I was lucky getting a lot of those horses to drive but that has really dried up.”

He loved the feel he got from Allamericanplayer on Friday and while he is set to face Jumal in for much of the three-year-old season at least he is one of only two horses who doesn’t need to prove he can beat the three-year-old machine because he has already done it.

“He is already a very good horse but we think be will get even better,” says co-trainer Steve Telfer.

“The blinds really helped him turn back on tonight because he is so laid back in his work you’d worry he wouldn’t even qualify.”

Friday night’s Metro Trot Final was won in super convincing fashion by Higher Power who made light work of his 20m back mark in a career-best performance so far.

And earlier in the night the Wallis/Hackett stable with daughter Crystal Hackett driving got a trotting double with first Magic Dash and then Belle Neige in the night’s feature, the Fiskins Breeders Stakes.

Slowly but safely away from her 30m back mark, Belle Neige got into the one-one at the bell and stole a winning break on Walkinonsunshine at the 400m to show she is in fine form at the start of a huge Group race campaign.