Mantra Blue has immediate challenges while dodging pacing’s superstars

Mantra Blue has won half of her 18 starts and looks well placed tonight. Photo /Ajay Berry

Zachary Butcher says there is a simple reason he is taking Mantra Blue to Alexandra Park: he knows what is coming next.

Butcher is the north’s leading reinsman these days but also trains a few horses, headlined by the fast five-year-old mare, who has won half of her 18 starts.

Mantra Blue was originally going to trial rather than racing tonight but Butcher knows the Alexandra Park main pacing races are about to get a whole lot stronger and he wants to get out in front of that.

“Ideally she would be going to a trial but there are horses like Cold Chisel coming back to the races very soon and then after them top horses like Merlin and Sooner The Better,” says Butcher.

“And if I wanted to next week she would be up against Akuta with a run under his belt.

“So I’d rather be going into a trial but the way she worked last weekend I still think she can win.”

By avoiding the absolute big boys of pacing, Mantra Blue finds herself against non-open class rivals tonight, with the small field reducing the disadvantage of her 30m handicap.

“These races are always hard because the tempo of the race dictates what you can do, whether you can take off or not and get handy.

“But unless something changes, I’d like to drive her for one run and I think she can still win doing that.”

Her winning chances may ultimately be determined by what sort of cart she gets into the race over the last 800m, and it is a case of whether punters are determined to have a bet – if it isn’t Mantra Blue, then who?

The most logical might be Kevin Kline, who is a big, silly-looking horse but is getting better with every start and seems happiest rolling along. He wasn’t suited by last week’s sprint home over 1700m when he was trapped back on the inside.

If he can step well and get to the marker pegs tonight, or even better the front, he can win – as can his stablemate Leo Lincoln – while Village Rebel will be a big improver on his fresh-up run two weeks ago.

Butcher will partner two other favourites tonight in The Night Agent (R2, No 6) and Confederate (R6, No 1), both of whom have shown plenty of ability for trainers Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan.

“I think they are both the best horses in their races but they will also improve.

“Confederate drawn 1 really helps and they can both win but if either of them don’t, they are worth following.”

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.