Caulfield back to home track

By Michael Guerin

Trainer David Butcher says there is a very good reason he isn’t driving Caulfield on his home track at Cambridge today.

“I thought I should put Benjamin on to keep him happy since we working together now,” laughs Butcher.

The father and son (Benjamin Butcher) have kind of teamed up at David’s property, where they both have horses.

“I’d say we are working in together,” says Butcher.

“Ben has a few of his and helps with mine and he does the odd breaker too.

“A while back we had too many horses but the numbers are about right now.”

The best of them is Hooray Henry, who is being aimed at the $60,000 Lincoln Farms Franklin Cup, taking on Akuta on New Year’s Eve.

But one of the most honest members of the stable is Caulfield, who is falling into a familiar patttern: he goes to Alexandra Park and tends to be outsprinted but returns home and can outstay his local rivals.

The Butchers will be hoping that continues today as Benjamin has barrier 2 to use over the 2700m mobile conditions Caulfield won over five starts ago.

He comes out of a race at Alexandra Park last Friday where he battled bravely into fifth but outsprinted by sharper, younger horses who will probably go further in life.

Today he meets horses like him, no stars but ones who take their chances at Cambridge and Caulfield’s chance don’t get much better than today so ff he can lead or trail he becomes the horse to beat.

Butcher also thinks he has a chance in Race 3 at today’s twilight meeting, with Romeo Foxtrot off the front over 2200m and also dropping back from Auckland company.

“I have been trying a few different things with him and he will go well but it is not a field he stands out in.

“It is very even so will come down to manners and who gets the right run.”

The stable also have Changealot in what shapes as a very competitive Race 2, a field of maidens without great recent form but many of whom probably won’t be maidens by the end of the summer.

“He is the sort of horse who needs the speed on all the way, 30 quarters (400m sectionals) to run the sprint out of the other horses.”

The other stable to follow today is another local trainer in Nicky Chilcott, who has strong chances right across the card but particularly in the trotting races.