KEY POINTS:
An unusual move by champion trainer Tim Butt may keep one of his most talented rivals from turning his back on harness racing.
Butt, trainer of New Zealand's two richest trotters, Lyell Creek and Take A Moment, owns most of Stig, who won the 4-year-old trotting section of the Harness Jewels on Saturday.
Yet he doesn't train Stig, having handed his reins to Paul Nairn when he proved a handful as a young horse.
Nairn's patience and old-fashioned training methods have helped develop Stig into one of the most promising trotters in the country and that may be enough to keep Nairn training.
While Nairn has achieved great success with trotters like Call Me Now, Above The Stars and Inspire, he started to re-evaluate his life earlier this year, wondering whether 20 years of complete devotion to harness racing was entirely healthy for body or mind.
Just a few months ago he suggested to close friends he may give up training and venture into something different but with Stig and New Zealand Derby winner Shirley Temple in his stable he admits walking away would be hard.
"I was serious at the time but I am really enjoying these horses," said Nairn.
"Maybe what I need to do is take a holiday and get away from the horses once in a while.
"I think that would be good for the brain rather than concentrating on one thing like I have done for so long."
That will be a blessing for those who love backing Nairn's small team, which deserve their huge following.
He was pleasantly surprised Stig could lead then hold out favourite Houdini Star in Saturday's mile, a distance short of what will ultimately prove his best.
"He is a very good stayer who has come a long way in a short time," said Nairn.
"Next season he should be a lot better and he looks a real Dominion Handicap and Rowe Cup horse because he is only young for a trotter."
As for Butt the win was the bright spot on a day when his own stable stars struggled.
"It wasn't a great day for our horses but this makes up for it," said Butt.
"Paul is a great trainer and I had no hesitation in sending him a horse.
"It is not about ego for me, it is about getting the best out of every horse and I thought Stig would be better suited at Paul's place.
"The way he is racing looks like I was right."
