After his win behind the Kevin Shaw trained Twentynine Twelve on his home track yesterday (Tuesday), Cambridge reinsman David Butcher can now undoubtedly say he’s the top driver in the North Island.
The 52-year-old is now the leading reinsman at both Cambridge Raceway and Alexandra Park. He has notched up 11 wins at Cambridge this season and is one clear of South Auckland’s Sailesh Abernethy.
But Butcher shares the top of the Alexandra Park driving premiership with 18 wins each with Maurice McKendry and one young reinsman he really wants to beat – his eldest son, Zac.
“If there’s anyone you want to beat its family. I love winning any race on any racetrack but I’m not ready to bow to my sons just yet.
“I’ve always told them they will beat me when they are good enough. They aren’t ready yet,” he joked.
Butcher said it was great to be finally back on top of his game after injuries had curtailed his progress in the sulky in recent years.
In July 2015 Butcher was rushed to Waikato Hospital with multiple internal injuries after being kicked in the chest by a horse at his Cambridge stable.
He was admitted to the high dependency unit with a lacerated spleen, perforated bowel and at broken ribs.
That serious injury occurred just 18 months after Butcher tore his pectoral muscle when he was leading a young horse. It pulled back suddenly and stopped, whipped his arm back and the muscle was torn off.
Butcher’s remarkable fitness and ability to bounce back from two serious abdominal injuries within two years was phenomenal.
“It’s taken a while to get back to the top of the tree, but I’m pleased where I am and I still want to keep improving and keep winning,” Butcher said.
Asked if he preferred winning at Cambridge or in Auckland, he replied:
“Wherever I’m winning at that moment in time is my favourite track. I just love winning. I’m a sportsman and still get a big thrill out of it. So if I’m winning at Manawatu that’s my favourite track that day,” Butcher said.
Butcher is currently fifth on the national driving premiership.
He has driven 44 winners from 305 drives this season. He has also placed 99 times and netted $449,778. His UDR strike-rate sits at a healthy 0.2874.
In a career spanning 35 years he has won almost every Group One race on offer and has amassed 2,200 winners and banked $22.6 million in lifetime stakes.
In 2013 he represented New Zealand at the World Drivers' Championship in France, where he won a race at Caen.
Meanwhile, the Junior Driving Premierships at Cambridge and Alexandra Park are headed by Dylan Ferguson who is six points ahead of Mark Johnson at ‘The Raceway’, while the New South Wales-based junior Sean Grayling is still four wins ahead of Jack MacKinnon at ‘The Park’.
Duane Ranger
