Hutton finding his way with Whyamihere
Garrick Knight - Raceform • July 18th, 2025 10:00 AM • 5 min read
Bruce Hutton is still getting to know Whyamihere, and he’s chalking up a last-start disappointment to that very reason.
The Sky Major three-year-old made a splash after joining Hutton three months ago, winning two of his first three starts before a sixth last time out.
“I’m not entirely sure what happened, but it may have been a little bit of trainer error,” Hutton told RaceForm. “I don’t know a lot about him, so I suspect either I’d been too hard or, more likely, too easy on him.”
Hutton is just getting back on his feet after spending most of 2023 battling a chronic form of blood cancer that he’s had for a number of years. A ‘last resort’ treatment option did the trick and he’s now back working a team of horses after spending months in and out of hospital.
“I’d been talking to Ken Barron and heard he was for sale at the same time I was looking for one. What I liked about his trials was he was always finding the line.”
It’s been a great piece of business and Hutton thinks the horse is poised to go on with it after being re-rated down 10 points in a recent handicapping system adjustment.
“He hasn’t beaten much yet, but he is a nice horse in the making.”
Whyamihere lines up at Addington on Friday night in the $16,500 Concrete Brothers Mobile Pace and he’s jagged a favourable draw.
Long term, Hutton sees his future in America, with other clients, but he’s happy to race him on and see whether he continues to step up.
“Being a three-year-old, he’s pretty attractive to buyers up there, but we’ll see what he does here first.
“There’s the Harness 5000 series later in the year, but that’s only one race and you’ve got to get there.”
Hutton believes another of his charges, Samvasa, is racing better than his form line indicates and deserves some consideration in his Friday night assignment.
“I’ve never had a horse run into bad luck like him. You could put a piece of two by four on the ground and he would walk into it.
“The other night, I felt, was a good run. It was his first standing start in over a year and I was a wee bit 50-50 about whether he would step. But he got away okay and found the line well.”
This week he’s in another standing start, but over the longer 2600-metre trip and Hutton expects a forward showing so long as he begins safely.
Rounding out the team is Done Rockn, who has a poor form line but an ace draw to work with in the last of the night.
“He sat parked and pulled last time, but he won’t have to try and cross anybody this time. He’s a super trackworker, but that hasn’t really translated to his races.”
Done Rockn is a half-brother to New Zealand’s greatest ever export, former USA Horse of the Year Shartin.
“Unfortunately, he doesn’t know who his sister is and once they’re out on the track, it doesn’t matter a whole lot.”
Come Sunday, Hutton will take his maiden trotter Highly Rated back to Addington for his first start in six weeks.
“He’s bred to be good, and he worked well today (Tuesday), but in a mile-and-a-quarter stand, off the unruly, he’s going to need to be perfect. He’s a horse that will win races in time.”
