Dual-gaited Dynasty defends Canterbury Breeders Stakes crown at Addington

By Michael Guerin

Trainer Bob Butt refuses to take the credit for his dual-gaited darling Dynasty.

The five-year-old defended her title in the Canterbury Breeders Stakes at Addington on Friday night, the pacing mares feature of the meeting that she also won last season. With Bob in Auckland with The Lazarus Effect, Dynasty was driven by Kimberly Butt. 

Of course the remarkable thing about Dynasty is she just as easily could have been in the trotting mares race on Friday as she paces some weeks and trots others, having now won seven races in hopples and four without.

Dual gaited horses were far more common 50 or even 100 years ago but there are only a handful currently racing in the country, Conrad H in the north being one of the more regular swappers.

Yet Butt isn’t trying to pretend he is some shoeing genius with a magic formula to Dynasty.

“It is pretty simple, I don’t have to do much,” he tells HRNZ.

“When I put the hopples on her she paces and when you take them off all she wants to do is trot.

“I just put slightly heavier shoes on her when I want her to trot but that is only to get her going smoothly.

“So I am not taking all the credit, she does most of it herself.”

“She will actually make an open class trotter but she doesn’t step away the best when she trots so we try to stick to the trotting mobile races.

“And there are more of those if you get all the way to open class so that is where she will probably end up.

“But there were no mobile trots for her at Addington for the next month so I put the aluminium shoes and hopples back on her yesterday and away she went.

“I am lucky I can muck around with her like that because my grandparents (Robin and Jackie) own her so I can take my time.” 

While Dynasty was back in pacing mode on Friday the $30,000 About Now Colin Hair Memorial Trot went to Rock Lobster to cap a magnificent night at both Addington and Alexandra Park for Team Dunn.

Perfectly driven by Riley Harrison she outsprinted Freya, Harrison having also won the opener with the similarly talented One Over Da Line as part of three wins at Addington for the stable to go with Got The Chocolates' Group 1 at The Park.