Canterbury driver Kimberly Butt has two strong chances at tonight's 10-card card when she jumps in the sulky behind Rockin Cullen (race 6) and Cullen Keefe (race 7).
Rockin Cullen has drawn barrier 2 in the $10,000 sprint series final, and Butt - who drove in a 1200m heat in April during the winter series - would like the draw to help the 5yr-old mare.
''There's a lot of speed early - a lot more than normal - I think you have to be handy to run in the money and luckily she's drawn well, so hopefully that will help her a lot,'' Butt said.
''They all pretty much go out of the gate and you're left trying to get in somewhere, but hopefully that works out for her.''
Butt is understandably excited about taking the drive behind the unbeaten entire Cullen Keefe.
The Laurence Hanrahan-trained 4yr-old looked a horse of considerable promise in winning his two assignments in June as a late 3yr-old, and Butt was keen to take the reins.
''I've been talking with Laurence for a fair while about driving this one,'' she said.
''He's been very good to me - I drove a couple for him last season and he said about this one when it was trialling that he was looking for a boys' race this season.''
Cullen Keefe finished fifth in a trial at Ashburton on November 25 for driver Ricky May before Butt took the drive at last week's Ashburton trials, finishing third behind Tuscaloosa.
''I was pretty impressed with it. I sat in on it then let it run home and he made good ground on them,'' Butt said.
''I was in the one-one but the one that was parked was a length to a length and a-half off the leader.
"I tried to hold him for as long as I could, being a long straight at Ashburton, and just let him run home on his own accord.''
Surprisingly, for a horse whose only racing was as a 3yr-old, Cullen Keefe has only had race-day experience behind the tapes.
''He seems quite versatile - the only query will be his first race behind the mobile,'' she said.
''He was behind the mobile at the trials the other day and he was fine with it there but race day is a whole another thing.''
Butt's other drive of the night is Motu Speedy Star, who drops back from c3-c6 racing to a claimers' race.
''He's been going all right races behind quite good fields. Because he was at such a high class [c5] he was getting bad draws, which always made it hard for him, and he was running on all right.
''Being a bit closer to the speed with a better draw might help him out a bit.''
