Butt sweating on border opening

By Adam Hamilton

ANTHONY Butt wants his young star Perfect Stride to be part of the revamped Queensland Winter Carnival.

Whether that happens depends on the Queensland Government opening the borders to allow easy access for NSW residents.

Butt’s still got a bit of time up his sleeve with Perfect Stride’s target being the $50,660 Group 2 South-East Derby (2138m) at Albion Park on July 18.

“That’s the aim, but it’s out of our control. He’s back and he’ll be ready, so here’s hoping we can get up there,” Butt said.

Perfect Stride has finished second in the NSW Derby and third in the Victoria Derby this season. He hasn’t raced since running second in the Bathurst Gold Chalice final on March 28.

The Bettors Delight colt sharpened-up for his return with a slick 1min53.1sec mile win in a Menangle trial last Wednesday, beating star mare Bettor Enforce and open-class performers Ignatius and Wrangler.

“He’s come back really well and looks to have found a good race first-up,” Butt said.

Perfect Stride has gate four in a heat of the TAB Long May Play series.

“The final is the week after. It’d be good to get a couple of runs under his belt before we get to Queensland if it’s a goer.”

Butt said Queensland plans had been shelved for Victoria Oaks winner Dr Susan, who will be saved for a Breeders Crown assault later in the year.

“She’ll be back in about a month or so and Line Up is maybe 4-6 weeks away from a trial,” he added.

Longer term, Butt is planning to take a huge team to Victoria around Breeders Crown time.

“We might be there a month or two,” Butt said. “We’ll most of the good horses down there so we don’t we have to bounce up and back between Sydney. I’d say we’ll have 12 or more go to Melbourne.”

They will include Perfect Stride, Line Up, Wolf Stride, Excel Stride and Dr Susan.

“I’ve just got another nice batch of Emilio’s (Rosati) horses arrive across from NZ as well and most of them are likely to go to Melbourne,” Butt said.