Anthony Butt will have to draw on all his skills to get Make Way home in Friday night’s Bankstown Cup. PHOTO: Michael McInally.
From the outside of the arm the Bankstown Cup presents big test for Ants and Make Way
By Barry Lichter • 20 November 2019
It will take all the guile of top horseman Anthony Butt to land Make Way a winner in Friday night’s A$14,950 Bankstown Cup.
But despite drawing the outside of the front row in a strong field, Butt and his partner trainer Sonya Smith believe Lincoln Farms’ horse will be hard to beat.
“It’s a good field and being on the outside means he’ll have to do work at some stage but I’m very happy with him,” says Butt. “He’s training great and hasn’t missed a beat since Penrith.”
Make Way continued his unbeaten march this season with a near track record win at Penrith on November 7, clocking a 1:56.4 mile rate for the 2125 metres.
On Friday night he steps up to 2540 metres on the tricky 805 metre Bankstown circuit, which has a short 187 metre run home and no passing lane.
Bankstown is only 805 metres and is not well banked, with its turns having a radius of only 68.“It’s a tricky track, not one of the better half mile tracks,” says Butt. “The turns are tight and it’s not well banked so you don’t want to end up in the wrong spot.
“Generally you need to be up on the pace so I’ll be going forward, but just how quickly I don’t know.
“The good ones are on the second row so I want to keep ahead of them but there’s speed inside him too so it’s unlikely he’ll find the pegs.
“But that won’t worry him. Hopefully we can mooch across and find a spot.”
Butt says with his good gate speed Make Way should be able to get into play against what is basically the quality of opposition he expected.
“He’s up in that grade now so we have to take on the better ones and it will be a good test for him.
“But he makes it easy for us. He’s the perfect little racehorse, he eats up, trains as good as you want him to and nothing worries him.”
Course stats for Bankstown show how much of an advantage it is to draw handy and how hard it is to win from the outside of the arm.
While 16.5% and 20.1% of horses drawn the inside two spots have won this season, the strike rate drops to 8.7% from gate six, the outside of the arm.
Make Way is no ordinary animal though with his own impressive stats. His career winning strike rate is 30.7% - with 12 wins from only 39 starts - and he’s been placed in 58.9% of his races.
In Australia he marks even better with a 50% winning strike rate - nine wins from 18 starts - and a 77.7% placed record.
* Make Way will start from five if the emergency Destiny Warrior fails to make the field.
Make Way races at 11.03pm NZ time at Bankstown on Friday night.
More news in Harness
Johnny Lincoln’s big ticker will stand to him in the States and Lover’s also sold to Aussie
No Jumals to beat this time at the Park so Ray’s looking for Lincoln Wave to roll in
Lincoln Linda best of the night at Cambridge - she has the engine to cross Soul Artist
Cheapie Johnny Lincoln a “proper” racehorse who can foot it with the Million bluebloods
Our runners this week: How our trainers rate them
Ray’s comments
Thursday night at Cambridge
Race 1: Rivergirl Bella
5.44pm
“She did well here last time as she had to do a bit to get to the lead and she dug in and fought on. She’s certainly a chance if she repeats that effort.”
Race 4: Lincoln Linda
7.09pm
“I thought she went super last time after doing a lot of work. She can do that because she has an engine and is tough. She’s a bit one-dimensional - you have to turn her loose early - but from the two draw she should be able to lead and that’s where she does her best work.”
Race 5: Sugar Ray Lincoln
7.34pm
“I think he’s a bit stronger after his spell. It’s not a great field - most will die on that mark - and I don’t see a problem with the standing start as he’s nicely gaited. He could be marginally unfit after three months out but he’s done quite a bit of work and I can see him going a half-decent race.”
Race 6: Lincoln Maree
7.59pm
“She had every chance last time but I can’t see why she won’t go well again. She’s as honest as they come and tries like hell.”
Race 7: The Night Fox
8.29pm
“You’d think he’d lead easily from the inside. He’s had bad draws and still got the money, so I’m sure he’ll go another good race. I’m surprised they sold him so cheaply. He’s better than people think.”
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Auckland
Race 1: Lincoln Wave
5.09pm
“With the trip he got in the Harness Million I thought he’d have run on a lot better. But he was still a bit short on fitness and sometimes we can expect too much of these horses, he was racing the best, after all. It’s a big drop in grade here and he’s a pretty fair horse.”
Race 1: Leo Lincoln
5.09pm
“He’s an honest sort who’s in a good space but he won’t get a wonderful trip from the outside of the gate this time so I’m not holding my breath.”
Race 3: Sammy Lincoln
6.04pm
“He’s training down well but you never know what he’s going to do. You think you’ve got him sorted and he does something silly. But we know if the real Sammy turned up, he’d be very hard to beat as he’s got a lot of speed.”
Race 5: Prince Lincoln
7.05pm
“He’s another where you don’t know which one will turn up but we’ve gelded him since his last run, so we’ll see if that helps. He trained well the other day.”
