Ben Butcher prevails in father-son rivalry at Ruakaka

By Michael Guerin

What is better than a family quinella which is more or less a stable quinella?

Being the trainer of the horse who actually won.

That was how Ben Butcher was feeling after training and driving Waltzing With Miki to just hold out Louezyana trained and driven by his father David in the $15,000 Ruakaka Beachfront Motel Northland Cup on Monday as harness racing returned to the far north.

The grass track meeting attracted a decent crowd and some close finishes on a day where the swoopers had a lot more success than they often do at a grass track meeting.

Waltzing With Miki backed up some recent good form by clinging on to beat the flying Louezyana who is almost his stablemate as Ben and David train at the same property.

“I have six in work and Dad and I work in together so it was a great result,” he says.

“But it's even better because I won, I enjoyed that more,” he laughs.

While the Northland Cup may not be the biggest in harness racing it was the second Cup race Ben has won over his father and Louezyana in the last 15 months.

He trained and drove his stable’s new iron horse Barbarossa to beat Louezyana in the Stratford Cup in January last year.

Fun family rivalries aside the Butchers are about as close as a family gets and both father and son have enjoyed strong summers.

“It has been really good to keep getting nice money with this horse and also have Barbarossa racing so well,” says Ben.

“One of the keys is using the points system the way it is supposed to be used.

“A horse like Waltzing With Miki you can line him up, get some money most weeks and if he has a few misses and loses some points he will end up back in a grade where he can win again.

“I only work six but do a couple of breakers and help Dad out and I am enjoying it.”

Butcher is also enjoying the consistent improvement in his health after a head injury suffered in a race smash in 2024 left him with concussion symptoms that dragged on.

“It has kept improving and I have got back into running and I have found that has really helped my head,” he explains.

“There is still the odd day it is not as good at it once was but on the whole I feel fine.”

Also feeling fine as he left the Turf by the Surf on Monday would have been Jason Teaz after his trotter Kaipaki Jack won the $20,000 Neville Brothers Trotting Cup at 20-1 in the hands of Sailesh Abernethy.

Tony Herlihy had a training double when Mr Putt and B D Castleton both won by a nose while Conrad H continued his fine grass track form when he beat Eagle Hanover, the exact same horse he beat on the grass at Taupo in January.