Cranbourne Gold Cup big step-up for Make Way who’s just the new kid on the block

Saturday night’s A$60,000 Cranbourne Gold Cup might be six months too soon for Make Way but top horseman Anthony Butt still believes he can be very competitive.

Make Way, as the lowest rated runner on R88, has dawn the ace in the Group II race over 2555 metres and comes up against the might of the Emma Stewart stable which has five strong chances.

But while he has to take on Stewart’s Grand Circuit runners Code Black and Phoenix Prince, both R120, and Tam Major (R115) it’s another of that team drawn directly beside him that Butt says holds the key to the race.

“Hurricane Harley’s a wee superstar who’s been a great age group horse and he’s the obvious leader from two.

“There’s not too much else on the front row you’d want to hand up to.

“If Hurricane Harley holds the lead, and we trail, I think we could fill a hole. But it depends on what pressure there is during the race.

“It’s going to be a hard race for him to win - he’s only a four-year-old who’s the new kid on the block - and he’s never been against these horses before, some of whom are already racing on the Grand Circuit.

“But I’m hopeful he’ll be competitive and with the right trip it wouldn’t surprise me if he was right there at the finish.

“He keeps stepping up with every race and we can’t hide him forever. And while it might be six months too early for him, it’s a nice race for this stage of his preparation and a good stepping stone for later on.”

Anthony Butt and partner, trainer Sonya Smith.Butt has been in New Zealand this week driving in the Interdominions and will catch a Saturday morning flight to Melbourne to team up with partner Sonya Smith.

Smith and her No. 1 horse Make Way are due to begin their nine-hour 865km float trip from Menangle to Cranbourne at 4am on Friday morning.

Butt is not expecting the long trip to affect Make Way who has won all four of his starts this season.

“He travelled further than that up to Queensland last campaign and won the Redcliffe Cup as soon as he got up there.

“And he’s 110%. We took a blood during the week and it came back perfect. We couldn’t be happier with him - he bounced out of his Bankstown Cup win and has been training great.”

Cranbourne is a 946 metre track, with a 221 metre home straight, Butt describing it as similar in style to Cambridge, with long straights and tightish turns.

Make Way races at 11.37pm NZ time at Cranbourne on Saturday night.