Well-bred debutant may arrive to some fanfare on Thursday night
Matt Markham - Raceform • February 5th, 2026 11:13 AM • 4 min read
He’s done everything asked of him so far, but now Bob Butt needs Fanfare to step it up again when he makes his raceday debut at Addington on Thursday night.
The first official starter by 11-time Group One-winning pacer King Of Swing steps out in a four-horse two-year-old event at the end of Thursday’s programme, looking to maintain an unbeaten public record off the back of four preparatory trials.
Four runs at the trials for four wins would be enough to get most punters excited, but Fanfare’s trainer has sounded a warning against getting too heavily involved this week.
“He’s a nice horse and he’s stepped it up every time I’ve asked him to, but he’ll need to step it up once again because it only gets harder from here,” Butt told RaceForm.
“I think he’s going to make it no worries, but I just want to see him show a bit more squirt when I ask him to sprint up. We are going to go a lot faster this week than he’s ever gone I’d imagine, and that will be the real test for him.”
Fanfare hails from a family that Butt and his family know well. He’s a half-brother to the brilliant Western Australia pacer Minstrel, who started his career in the same barn when under the care of Butt’s parents, David and Catherine Butt.
“He’s got a bit to live up to, that’s for sure.”
Fanfare will face just three rivals for his debut with Roger That, who wasn’t far off him in their most recent trial, joined by the Ross Houghton pair of Validation and Aardie’s A Star.
Butt will be looking to continue a good start to the year at Addington again this week with a good team of four runners engaged including Roydon Muscle, who caught the eye last week when finishing fifth behind Muscle Mountain.
“It helped that they went pretty slow, because we gave them a bit of a head start, but I was really happy with the way he found the line. He ran past some nice ones. Off the front tape this week, you’d like to think he’d have a pretty good chance.”
Milou will look to back up her winning debut for the stable a fortnight ago when she takes on a handy field of mares in one of the better races of the night, and while tucked away on the second row, there were nothing but positive words from her trainer.
“She won great the other night, really impressed me. She’s stepped it up again since then too, her work has been great. While there’s some good ones in there, I’d expect her to run a pretty good race again if she gets the luck.”
Maiden pacer Prophet rounds out the team after finishing second to Cee Whata Mickee a fortnight ago, with that form franked after the same horse won up in grade last Friday night.
“The run looks even better now after last week, but I was happy with the way he went.
“We’ve got a wide draw to contend with, but I think we’ll look to take luck out of the equation with him and he shouldn’t be too far away.”
From just 22 starters through the first month of racing, Butt has already registered five wins for the season with a further five placings. He’s also picked up the same number of victories in the sulky.
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