Racing: Kiwis backed by experience - Butt

Champion trainer Tim Butt says there is a very good reason New Zealand should win the Interdominions which start on Saturday - the right trainers have got the right horses.

Butt is one of New Zealand's most successful trainers of the last decade but has been especially hot in Australia, where horses like Lyell Creek, Take A Moment, Mister D G, Happy Asset, Foreal and Tribute have won major races.

He says he is a far better trainer of horses across the Tasman now than he used to be because of the experience gained with those horses.

And Butt believes that could be a huge advantage to the main New Zealand's chances in the Interdom series about to start on the Gold Coast.

"Not only do we have a lot of top horses in the series but they all have top trainers," said Butt.

"These are guys who have all been to Australia plenty of times and won a lot of big races over here.

"That sort of experience, just with the little things you need to get right when you are travelling horses, can be crucial."

Butt makes a good point with Auckland Reactor being trained by Mark Purdon; Changeover, Awesome Armbro and Zenad with Geoff Small and Gotta Go Cullen by Tony Herlihy.

Add those five to the Butt-trained pair of Mr Feelgood and Report For Duty and the New Zealand team certainly looks formidable.

Yet Butt admits the series is wide open.

"On paper it is a series one of the Kiwi horses should win but we have all seen that before and come home with nothing.

"I think Blacks A Fake will be hard to beat while horses like Mister Swinger and I Am Sam are also good chances.

"So we will have to have horses in the right place at the right time come Grand Final night."

Butt says the Parklands track will play a major role in how the series is run.

"We are staying here [Parklands] and it is a good track with good bends but the straights are very short so it is still a typical Australian track ... you need to be handy."

And that is the problem Butt's top chance in the series, Mr Feelgood, faces in the toughest heat on opening night.

The former US pacer has drawn the outside of the front line over the mobile mile and even with his gate speed is almost certain to be forced to go back to last.

"It looks a very fast front line, so I am hoping they go the first 800m in 55 seconds and come back to us late," said Butt.

"I am not saying he can't win it but it will be a big ask."

Butt thinks his second-stringer Report For Duty, who has campaigned extensively in Victoria and Tasmania this year and has winning form in Australia , can at least place behind Auckland Reactor in the final heat.

"He is working well and should be handy so gets his chance."

Meanwhile, bookmakers on either side of the Tasman cannot agree on the heats, with huge discrepancies in some opening markets.

For example, one Australia betting shop opened NZ Cup winner Changeover at $2.75 to win his heat at the same time as the NZ TAB opened him at $1.80.

Even allowing for the New Zealand TAB always setting tighter markets than their Australian rivals, the series looks a good one for cunning transtasman punters.