The biggest day of Benjamin Butcher’s burgeoning driving career could be just 18 days away.

The Cambridge junior driver once again rewarded the faith shown in him by trainer Steve Telfer with a text book drive to win tonight’s Sires Stakes Series heat at Alexandra Park.

Driving the loose favourite American Brave, Butcher summed up the situation perfectly from gate two early on in the sprint trip.

With the lead not there for him, Butcher had the sense to drop in to the trail behind Solid Gold and smoke a pipe as the field of three-year-olds set-up a New Zealand record run over the 1700 metres.

With the leader under sufferance half way down the straight, Butcher urged the inexperienced American Brave up the passing lane for a tidy victory.

Telfer was nothing but complimentary of his young driver, who has continued to kick goals with his team this season, most notably with glamour mare Better B Amazed.

“It’s not hard to keep putting him on.

“Every time we’ve put him in slightly bigger circumstances and he keeps rising to the occasion.

“He’s done the job every time.”

Telfer would not confirm an appointment for the Group  1 $170,000 Sires Stakes Final at Addington on New Zealand Cup day – the biggest showcase of the year.

But the glint in Telfer’s eye and cheeky smile suggests Butcher may well be in for some further good news in coming days.

“It’s something I will have to talk to the owners about.

“It will be hard not to keep him on.”

As you can imagine, Butcher is utterly thrilled to have been afforded the opportunities he has by Telfer and is equally happy to be able to reward that faith with wins.

“I couldn’t be more grateful to Steve and his owners.

“It’s been awesome to get the opportunities they’ve given me; they’ve put a lot of faith in me and it’s been great to be able to repay that for them.”

On American Brave, Telfer says the win was no fluke and it is now all systems go for a trip to Christchurch to chase Group 1 glory.

“We are very excited about him.

“Right from day one he has shown us a lot and just looking after him last season has been the making of him.

“He’s made a few mistakes along the way but we have slowly gotten those out of his system.”

Telfer himself is having a watershed season and has accumulated a quite brilliant team around him.

Among those to have already won this season are Better B Amazed, No Doctor Needed, Dance Time, Parker, American Brave and Carlaw Park.

And tonight he unleashed another promising sort in the brilliant debut winner Ideal Lass, who led all the way in the hands of David Butcher.

“She’s a great stayer and I was very confident she would win tonight.”

So what does he make of this amazing season he is having, one that is only likely to get better when the likes of Rocknroll Princess, Step Up, Rhythm N Blues and Check In to wind in to their campaigns shortly?

“We sat down at the start of the season and looked over them and thought we’ve got a really good team for this season.

“Across all levels. From top to bottom.

“And we are rapt with how things are going.”

King Of Swing was a brave second after sitting parked for the last lap in the hands of David Butcher and will now head south to Addington for the big dance.

“We couldn’t be happier with him,” said trainer Ray Green.

“He’s continued on his record of never finishing further back than second.

“I can’t repeat David’s exact words but it’s fair to say he was happy with the run.

“This horse is the real deal.”