KEY POINTS:
Anthony Butt is going into the two biggest races of the weekend knowing his fate may not be in his own hands.
Butt will drive Foreal in tonight's $50,000 Mares Championship at Addington, while tomorrow he flies to Victoria to partner Report For Duty in the A$130,000 Ballarat
Cup.
Both pacers should end up sitting in the trail and Butt says from there he will have to hope for aggressive tactics from those around him.
"I could end up having my chances in both races in somebody else's hands, which I don't like much," he said.
The group race double starts with Foreal, whose only real danger may be It's Ella after champion mare One Dream was scratched last night.
The Pukekohe four-year-old will return home after bruising her leg kicking her feed bin earlier this week.
"It is nothing serious and there is no structural damage but we are taking her home as a precaution," said co-trainer Dave McGowan.
The withdrawal of One Dream suggests the race is a two-mare war.
Foreal has been luckless for much of this campaign but should be able to hold her position from the ace and Butt sees himself trailing It's Ella.
"I am sure she (It's Ella) will stay in front because last time they handed up the lead on her it didn't work out for them," said Butt.
"If we can trail It's Ella and one of the others has a crack at her then I think we are the horse to beat.
"But it will be harder with One Dream out because she was the most likely horse to put pressure on."
That does open up the possibility of It's Ella blasting to the early lead and then being able to dictate the race, which would make her very hard to get past in the straight.
That was the case when she and Foreal clashed last time when Foreal ended up three deep on the markers. Tonight she looks set to be one horse closer to the leader.
The scratching of One Dream leaves Bachelorette looking the only other winning hope but she may struggle to beat the open class mares.
While Butt may have the luxury of the passing lane to help with him Foreal at Addington tonight, he won't have that at Ballarat when the big names clash in the Ballarat Cup.
Report For Duty will continue his steep learning curve when he starts directly behind Australian champion Blacks A Fake, who has drawn the ace in the mobile event.
If Blacks A Fake leads, as expected, and dawdles then Butt fears being stuck in the trail with nowhere to go so he is hoping for mid-race pressure.
"I am not saying we will beat Blacks A Fake anyway because I think he is clearly the best horse in Australasia," said Butt, a keen student of form.
"But I think our horse can run in the money. He has a very quick 200m on him."
While Blacks A Fake is an unlikely Hunter Cup starter all the other big names aiming for that race are starting tomorrow night, although Divisive and Smoken Up have opted for a standing start race.