They also pillaged Australia's best trotting races and won almost every major pacing race as well but now Butt is returning home to help the Aussies snare one of our Group 1 races.
"It is a bit ironic coming back home to try and win one for Australia," says Butt.
"And I think he can do it. He is a very good horse, has great gate speed and is trotting beautifully. So I am confident he will end up in front and take plenty of running down."
The Free-For-All may be a Group 1 but its awkward timing three days before the far richer Dominion means Oscar Bonavena and Marcoola are not there and the most favoured locals are drawn poorly.
So with back-up from now Victorian ex-pat trotter McLovin, the Australians have a very rare shot at Group 1 trotting glory during Cup week.
It isn't Butt's only shot, though, as he thinks North Island 3-year-old Line Up is a real show in the $170,000 Sires' Stakes Final.
Butt has become the go-to driver for NSW's biggest harness owner Emilio Rosati, so picks up the drive on the Ray Green-trained speedster, and he loved the feel he got from him at the trials last week.
"He is real ability and I think he can win, he is good enough," says Butt.
"Some years, the Sires' Stakes has a standout 3-year-old who turns out to be a champion, but this year hasn't shown us one of those yet, so it might be more even than usual."
As for his homecoming, Butt says Cup Day is one of the world's great harness meetings.
"I have driven all over the world, obviously everywhere in Australasia, at a lot of Elitlopp [Sweden] meetings and on Hambletonian Day in the States, and there is no place in the world where the city stops for a harness meeting like it does on Tuesday."
