By MICHAEL GUERIN
Lyell Creek's defeat in Norway yesterday proved to trainer Tim Butt what two years of winning everything in Australasia could not - that the Kiwi champ can beat the best in the world.
That was the feeling the Canterbury horseman was left with after watching his champion courageously fight into fifth in yesterday's $455,000 Oslo Grand Prix.
Lyell Creek was forced to race parked out on a world-record pace for the 2100m mobile but was still battling it out with the leader at the 150m mark before being swamped late.
The race was won by outsider Giant Cat, who ran down pacemaker Etain Royal. World champion Victory Tilly finished just before Lyell Creek, after having a far easier run.
The instant Butt saw Lyell Creek get off the float after the journey from Stockholm he knew the horse could not win.
"I knew we were in trouble the second I saw him," said Butt.
"The float trip was longer and harder than expected and took a lot out of him. He was very light on condition when he got to the track."
That prompted Butt's brother, reinsman Anthony Butt, to drive Lyell Creek slightly more conservatively than he would have in New Zealand. Rather than attacking the leader in the middle stages he let the gelding relax while sitting parked.
With Etain Royal setting up a sizzling 1:56 mile rate, Lyell Creek's effort to sit parked and still be in the finish impressed local experts.
"Horses just don't sit parked and win major races in this part of the world," said Sweden's leading trotting official, Klaus Koch.
"If he can do that when Tim tells me he is below his best then he has what it takes to beat the best in the world."
Koch also suggested that the tactics of the drivers of Victory Tilly and Etain Royal were a major topic of discussion in Oslo yesterday.
Victory Tilly's driver would normally never hand the front to a rival such as Etain Royal but did so without a fight yesterday. By doing so the drivers ensured they would not fight each other before leaving themselves a sitting duck for Lyell Creek.
New Zealand's harness-racing hero is already back at Solvalla, just outside Stockholm, where the Butt brothers will concentrate on getting more condition on him.
"We have a big advantage in that the next race, the Elitlopp, is at his base track, which means we won't have to contend with travel," said Tim Butt.
"We have two weeks and I am sure he will be a far better horse for the Elitlopp. After the way he fought so well when below his best, we know he is good enough to beat these horses."
The $900,000 Elitlopp, considered one of the world's greatest trotting races, consists of two mobile mile heats on May 27. The first four in each heat will make the final, to be held later that day.
The distances may not suit Lyell Creek but the format will, because of his great post-race recovery rate.
Racing: Courageous effort hints at potential
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