Butt’s been patient with newcomer Roydon Muscle
Garrick Knight - Raceform • January 8th, 2026 3:03 PM • 4 min read
An interesting newcomer to Bob Butt’s Woodend Beach stable headlines his strong Nelson touring party this weekend.
The annual two-day meeting, which acts as a lead-in for the same next week at nearby Blenheim, has drawn a decent array of Tasman locals and Canterbury visitors.
Eagle-eyed form students will have noticed Butt now trains Roydon Muscle, a six-win trotter formerly with Chris McDowell at Leeston.
The seven-year-old son of Muscle Mass has a reputation for being inconsistent, but his best performances have been dominant wins in strong company at Addington.
“He just came up for sale, so me and a mate bought him,” Butt told RaceForm. “He’s a horse I’ve always followed along and liked the look of.”
Butt says he’s taken his time with Roydon Muscle since acquiring him, but he expects that patience to yield good results in Friday’s $15,000 Dunstan Horsefeeds Handicap Trot.
“I haven’t really done too much with him – just toiled away and mucked around with him.
“I’ve had him for a couple of months, and he hasn’t really done anything too serious apart from flop along down the beach.”
Butt says often with horses sent to him for beach work it’s as much about refreshing their minds as well as their joints.
“It’s really just been about keeping him happy. I’m looking forward to seeing how he goes this weekend, because I get the feeling he’s ready to go a couple of good races.”
Butt has Ready Set Jet in the same race, with John Dunn driving, and expects the usual honest effort from him.
“He is a great stayer and a great follower of pace, but he just lacks that top-end speed.
“He’s one of those horses that actually gives me the impression he would be better up another grade, where they go a bit faster.
“He’s still a place chance though and perhaps a winning chance if they went hard enough.”
Butt’s forgotten pacer Ukraine popped up at Rangiora on January 1 for his first start in over 16 months, finishing second in the slush.
It was a gentle reminder of what the former gun juvenile is capable of, and he also heads to Nelson seeking further fitness gains.
“I was rapt with him first-up because it had been such a long time away for him. It’s been so hard to get him fit because he was so fat ‘inside’.
“He had a few trials, and now has that race under his belt, but it will be at least a couple more runs for him to get back to peak fitness, and I figured the trip away would be ideal for him.”
Ukraine won his debut almost two years ago before running second to Rubira in the Gr.2 Kindergarten Stakes at Wyndham.
He came back for one run in the spring before his campaign got derailed.
“He got hurt initially, and then when we got him back to the trials stage, he got a bad virus.
“So we turned him out for a long spell, and he ended up missing his whole three-year-old season.”
Friday’s $13,500 Hoani Jack Cup looks well within his range.
“On ability, he’ll be right there, it’s just a matter of how the race is run and his fitness.”
Butt has Dynasty in the $25,000 Nelson Pine Industries Nelson Cup and she comes into it as a brilliant last-start mile winner of a Harness 5000 Final at Ashburton.
But this is a significant step up in grade to take on hardened types like It’s Tough, Harrison John and Vessem, and it’s her first start from a stand.
“It’s a much bigger test for her and she’s only in that field because there was no second race for her on the card.
“She’s got the mares’ races at Addington at the end of the month, and I need to keep her ticking over and I thought the trip away would do her good. She’ll hopefully land on the pegs, get a smother and be hitting the line nicely.”
Butt has maiden three-year-old Hawk Touie Louie in the $12,500 Palm Motel Pace and is expecting a bold showing fresh-up from a spell for his leviathan Australian owner, Mick Boots.
“He goes good and is ready to win.”
Butt expects One Eyed Bandit to be a live chance in the day’s opening race, while he has two good outside drives in Shanky’s Shot (refer story on previous page) and the locally trained Sargent Henry.
“Sargent Henry I don’t know too much about except that he won well at Westport. I led, and he was on my back and ran straight past me so he must go alright.”
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