Harness Live!

"Red" in remarkable win for second year running

Tuesday 13th November, 2007

Flashing Red - an incredible horse

By Stu Bailey

He was written off, not talked about, and a forgotten horse.

Or was he?

In Tim Butt's mind the the great warhorse still had it in him.

Butt and his training partner Phil Anderson  had gone through a few tough days following the Ashburton Flying Stakes, a day when Red didn't race as well he could.

So the plans had to change, and dramatically.

"Deep down I probably thought if we'd had another week, he could have possibly been better," said Butt, thinking he just may have needed a little more time to rejuvenate an ailing Flashing Red.

"Then Stu (Australian owner Stuart Hunter) came over and that gave me a bit of confidence."

Butt revealed he had more than just a lacklustre horse on his hands following a fading sixth at Ashburton, and set about turning him around with just 22 days to the NZ Cup.

"We tried to eliminate those problems first, mainly unsoundness," said Butt.

"He had a bit of a problem with a front joint,which we had to keep an eye on. And we wanted to eliminate the fact that we thought he may have ulcers, so we treated him for those.

"And just the fact that he may have been tying up with muscle tie-up. We felt he was fit enough, it was just a matter of getting him feeling better in himself," he said.

Flashing Red also visited the beach to train in the fortnight leading up to the Cup, the easing in the sand surface much kinder on limbs and joints and something Butt and Anderson were aware he needed.

They got him to the post, the stable confidence a little more upbeat in the final few days leading in, certainly much happier than they were after Ashburton.

In a bizarre twist, driver Anthony Butt, brother of Tim, and the man who guided Flashing Red to victory last year, could well have driven either Foreal or Report For Duty in the New Zealand Cup, leaving the drive on Flashing Red up for grabs.

Butt had considered taking the reins behind Foreal, another runner out of the Tim Butt-Phil Anderson team to contest the Cup, while relative stable newcomer Report For Duty was also an option, though first ballot in the race.

Anthony Butt won't consider this as a lucky win, though, in context, he can look back in the years to come and wonder just what may have happened had he pulled the "wrong rein".

Stuart Hunter said Flashing Red is now in his final season as a racehorse, the icing on the cake for his pending career as a stallion undoubtedly his back-to-back New Zealand Cup wins.

Tim Butt will consider a start in the New Zealand Free-For-All on Friday, though that decision will be made when he sees how the 10yo stallion comes through the rigours of his record-breaking 3:57.8 (1:59.5 mile rate) from the 3200m stand.

Monkey King was huge in defeat, unproven at 3200m, he raced superbly and looked the obvious winner 200m from home when hitting the lead, fading slightly on his run to succumb to Flashing Red inside the final 50 metres.

Tribute ran a slasher for the Butt-Anderson stable and was driven perfectly by David Earnshaw, taking third money.

Changeover was held up at the wrong time and finished his race off well for fourth, ahead of Sly Flyin and Bondy who both battled hard to the line.

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