Bob Butt looks for The Lazarus Effect to continue to rise on New Zealand Cup trail

by Adam Hamilton

Bob Butt has grown up with the aura of the New Zealand Cup.

The fourth-generation Kiwi horseman is used to his world stopping on the second Tuesday of November for the biggest horse race of any code in New Zealand.

And now he’s counting down the days until he has his own first starter as a trainer.

“I’d driven in it a few times, but having a runner myself will be something else,” he said. “It’s the race we all grow up with, especially when you’re from a racing family like mine.

“I remember the buzz of driving in it the first time, but this will be next level.”

The first of Butt’s four New Zealand Cup drives came when seventh on Thefixer in 2020 and his best result was fourth aboard Steel The Show the next year. He has since finished 11th on Heza Sport in 2022 and last on Dalton Shard in 2024.

But now he’s letting himself dream about winning it with the best horse he has trained and one of the best he has driven, 5-year-old pacer The Lazarus Effect.

“It was actually [New Zealand] Cup Day two years ago when The Lazarus Effect won his second start in one of the support races that I first thought he could be a serious horse, but never did I imagine he’d be heading towards a Cup now,” Butt said.

The Lazarus Effect has since stretched his record to 21 starts for 13 wins, six seconds, and a third and is a star on the rise.

With another rising star Got The Chocolates sidelined by injury, The Lazarus Effect and the Regan Todd-trained Marketplace are the two standout Kiwi pacers trying to arrest what’s been an Aussie dominance of the New Zealand Cup in recent years.

Mighty New South Wales stayer Swayzee went back-to-back for trainer Jason Grimson in 2023 and ’24 and last year it was an Aussie quinella with Kingman beating Leap To Fame.

At this stage, Swayzee, Kingman, and Leap To Fame are slated to return for this year’s Cup on Nov. 10.

While many Kiwis are sick of the Aussie raiders winning so many of their big races, Butt sees it differently. Perhaps because he spent a few years in Australia as a junior driver working for former Kiwi trainer Brent Lilley in Victoria. He drove 108 winners in that time.

“No, we want as many stars as possible in a race that’s so important to the sport as the [New Zealand] Cup,” he said. “I was really disappointed when I heard about the injury to Got The Chocolates. He’d have added so much to the race.

“Sure, it makes it harder for my horse, but I want to be part of races like that.

“I know how hard those big Aussies stars are going to be to beat but bring it on.

“I don’t know if he’ll be good enough, but he’s got fantastic high speed and great manners. He’ll give himself every chance to be right in the finish, especially if he draws well.”

The Lazarus Effect has won both lead-up runs this campaign and will have a short freshen-up before his next run in the Canterbury Classic at Addington on Oct. 16.

“Then he’ll either go to the Ashburton Flying Stakes [Oct. 26] or the Kaikoura Cup [Nov. 2],” Butt said. “I’ll decide which fits best closer to it.”

Kaikoura would set up a tantalizing clash with champion Australian mare Captains Mistress, who beat Leap To Fame in the Brisbane Inter Dominion final on July 18.

Although Captains Mistress is being set for Kaikoura, she won’t go to the New Zealand Cup because owner Mick Boots doesn’t believe a grueling 3,200-meter standing-start race is a good idea for the mare.

Butt said keeping his options open beyond the Canterbury Classic was in part due to The Lazarus Effect’s history.

Remarkably, vets felt he may not have a racing future when an operation to address cartilage issues in his knees didn’t work as a 2-year-old.

“That’s the only reason he came to me,” Butt said. “Mark and Nathan [Purdon] had him and I know they had a big opinion of him, but he’s basically got no cartilage in his knees and the feeling was he wouldn’t make it as a racehorse.

“They gave me a crack because I train on the beach and have a pool and water walker.

“He’d only been here three or four months when he won his first start and then he won that race on New Zealand Cup Day two years ago which really made me think he was a good horse.”

They were his only two starts at 3, then The Lazarus Effect returned at 4 where he raced 11 times for six wins and four placings.

“The signs were promising so we gave him a go against the big boys, Got The Chocolates and Swayzee, earlier this year,” Butt said. “He won a sprint against them, but it was more his second in the 2,700-meter race [Messenger] to Got The Chocolates which showed he was up right to them.

“Got The Chocolates was too good, but we were still making ground on him at the finish.

“I couldn’t be happier with the way he’s come back this time, especially last Friday’s win when he was pulling away at the finish.”

Butt, 36, carries such a rich harness racing pedigree towards the Cup and has also learned his craft from stints with greats like Barry Purdon, Cran Dalgety, and Lilley.

He trains from the superb property at Woodend Beach, outside Christchurch, bought and developed 26 years ago by his parents, David and Catherine Butt. They trained over 800 winners between them.

Bob’s grandfather, Robin Butt, trained 285 winners and his great-grandfather, Wes, put the polish on almost 600 winners.

His other grandfather, Jack Litten, is a legendary name in New Zealand harness racing as the trainer/driver of the great Caduceus, who won 28 races, including the 1960 Inter Dominion, an Auckland Cup and three New Zealand free-for-alls.

“I’ve been lucky to have some fantastic support and learn from some great people,” Bob said.

“It’s a great game like that and now I get to live my dream with a New Zealand Cup runner of my own.”