KEY POINTS:
Champion trainer Tim Butt is calling for a change to the rules for the Harness Jewels.
He says the stakes-based qualifying regulations for the $1.5 million series are already outdated because they don't include money won in Sales Series races.
And he fears that could cost his latest
stable star Stunin Cullen his shot at his $200,000 division of the series at Cambridge on May 31.
Stunin Cullen emerged as the horse to beat in the Jewels, and any other major juvenile pace this season, when he led almost throughout to win the $220,000 PGG Sales Series Pace at Addington on Saturday.
Butt bought the colt for stable clients just six weeks ago and Stunin Cullen was having only his second start on Saturday when he downed Tintin In America and a luckless Highview Tommy.
Butt says Stunin Cullen could develop into a genuine superstar.
"He is still just a baby and has so much to learn but he has real speed."
Yet he could miss a place in the Harness Jewels if he runs unplaced in this Friday's Sires Stakes Final at Addington, his last race before the qualifying cutoff date.
Under Harness Jewels rules the top 12 stake earners in each division qualify for the finals, but those don't include stakes won in Australia or in Sales Series races.
Which means Stunin Cullen is ranked only ninth on the stakes ladder with under $10,000 in winnings and could miss a spot in the Jewels to a horse like Coastal, who has been winning in weak provincial company.
"I think the rules are wrong and while they won't be changed in time to maybe help us this season, I think they need to be changed for next season.
"As a trainer, it is our job to aim the horses for the best races and most of those are late in the season.
"But by not rushing a horse early we are being punished. He could win the Sales Series, get knocked over in the Sires Stakes and then miss the Jewels while inferior horses get in."
Butt says while the Sales races may not be open to all horses they were now such a huge fixture on the harness racing landscape to ignore them, yet include Sires Stakes races, in the Jewels rankings was farcical.
"I am not saying the whole stake should count toward Jewels qualification but maybe they can let 50 or even 25 per cent of it count toward rankings."
The idea of the Jewels is to get the best horses in the races and at the moment there is a danger of that not happening.
Stunin Cullen's win was especially important to Butt as he fears being pigeon-holed as a trainer of open class horses at a time when the money in age group racing is so huge.
"People think of us as trainers of cup horses and trotters, which is great.
"But we need to win races like this and be proactive at the sales to keep up with Mark Purdon and Geoff Small and those guys."
Purdon would have left Saturday's race concerned over the early gallop of Sir Clive.
After looking the best of the juveniles a month ago he has started to over-race and now looks vulnerable any time he is not drawn to lead.
His stablemate Highview Tommy has emerged as the safest bet among the freshman pacers with Tintin In America looking a Jewels hope.
SOUTHLAND FILLY READY FOR LONG TREK TO CAMBRIDGE
The 3-year-old pacing fillies' ranks have become far murkier waters for punters to dip their toes in.
That was the overwhelming feeling after Badlands Jewel's upset win in the $150,000 Nevele R Fillies Final at Addington on Saturday.
The Southland filly produced the run of the day to overcome a check on the home bend, make up six lengths in the last 250m and grab Fight Fire With Fire right on the line.
It was a remarkable performance, confirming the daughter of Badlands Hanover is a serious contender for the Harness Jewels on May 31. The win moved driver Mark Jones to declare Badlands Jewel as talented as the best fillies he has driven and the scary part for her rivals is she looks certain to be better suited by the 2600m of Friday's New Zealand Oaks.
Badlands Jewel is trained by Wayne Adams, who is rarely without a decent horse in his stable, dating back to former age group star Atitagain, who went on to great things in Australia.
But while Badlands Jewel's win was a further boost for Southland harness racing, it might have left punters wondering what to make of the crop.
Going into the race Lizzie Maguire was clear top seed but she was disappointing, fading to sixth.
She worked a little bit early on when they were going a bit but, really, by her standards, she was disappointing, admitted trainer Gareth Dixon.
Lizzie Maguire and costly second favourite Lady Dancer have their chance for revenge in the Oaks but the gap amongst the best fillies appears to have closed, with Kiwi Ingenuity and Itz Cherry Ripe, who won at Alexandra Park on Friday night, emerging as other players in the Jewels picture.
While there was no joy for the northerners in the two age group features in Saturday, Awesome Armbro made the most of a return to mobile racing to easily win the main open pace in a slow time.
And in Australia, triple Interdominion champion Blacks A Fake returned to racing with a typically narrow win at Albion Park on Saturday night.
He paced his last 400m in 26.8 seconds to beat Good Lookin Girl and will race this Friday and the following week before spelling until next season.
