After drawing the outside of the front row Butcher settled the Falcon Seelster filly back in the field before getting a drag into the race via stablemate Matai Mies and Geoff Small down the back straight the last time. Gotta Go Harmony and Brent Mangos set a torrid pace in front after leading at the bell, but when De Lovely shot past her at the 150m, it was like she was standing still.

De Lovely paced the 1700m mobile in 2:04 (mile rate:1:57.4) with final 800m and 400m sectionals of 59.4 and 28.2 seconds. Gotta Go Harmony was 2-1/2 lengths back in second with a nose back to Sixpence and Simon Lawson.

Butcher was delighted with the run but stopped short of saying she was as good as her dam.

"She's still got some way to go before we can compare the two yet but she's really coming to it nicely this time in. She was a bit green early on but felt real nice tonight. She was four wide for a lot of the way so it was a good run alright. I was surprised she had plenty left at the end considering she did a bit of work in the race," Butcher said.

The Small trained De Lovely has now won two of her four starts after winning at Alexandra Park last start on October 9. She was backed into favourite in all three of her starts going into tonight's $18,000 Alabar NZ Sires Stakes 3yo Fillies Heat. tonight she paid $10 to win. Her immediate mission is now the Group One $175,000 Sires Stakes Fillies Final at Alexandra Park on New Year's Eve.

"She's a nice filly but is going to have to go up another level again to beat the South Island fillies. They have some nice three-year-olds down there but she's certainly a lot stronger and more focussed this campaign, so time will tell," Butcher said.

Later in the season (May 21) De Lovely will be trying to emulate the New Zealand Oaks winning deeds of her dam Copper Beach. That Beach Towel mare, who was trained by Small and driven by James Stormont, won nine of her 37 starts and placed in seven others for $185,991.

De Lovely is the first foal out of Copper Beach. The mare has also left a Christian Cullen yearling filly.

The Junior Drivers race saw Five Star Anvil return to winning form for the first time since his $300,000 PGG Wrightson NZ Yearling Sales Series 2yo Open victory at Addington Raceway in May.

The McArdle - Alta Vista colt, who is trained by Doug Gale and was driven by Simon McMullan, justified his $1.50 favouritism - just - after holding off a late surge by Shady Su and Josh Dickie.

Five Star Anvil slipped away from field on the home turn and only held out the promising Shady Su by a head. There were 4-1/4 lengths back to Bravado Boy and Jordan Compain, who were third.

It was Five Star Anvil's fourth win from 16 starts. He has now won more than $250,000 in stakes.

Up-and-coming trotter, Great Getaway was dominant in the $8000 two-plus-win trot. The Dream Vacation mare led after 300 metres but was severely attacked by back-marker Indian Wells down the back straight the last time - but her driver Tony Herlihy always had the race in control winning by more than four lengths in 3:31.25

Great Getaway has now won four of her nine starts for Cambridge trainer, John Dickie., On that run she will win more races at short notice.

TONIGHT'S HIGHLIGHTS:

Top Driver: David Butcher 3 wins

Top Sire: Badlands Hanover 2 wins.

Top Trainer: Geoff Small 2 wins.

Top Junior Driver: Simon McMullan 1 win.

Results from the Cambridge-Te Awamutu Harness Racing Club's meeting held at Cambridge Raceway in Cambridge tonight (Friday) were:

Race 1: The Sean McCaffrey trained NORVIC GOLD (Badlands Hanover) Maurice McKendry.

Race 2: The Ray Green trained BADLANDS BROMAC (Badlands Hanover) Maurice McKendry.

Race 3: The Frank Cooney trained and driven WESTWIND GAMBLE (Mattuity).

Race 4: The Geoff Small trained DE LOVELY (Falcon Seelster) David Butcher.

Race 5: The Paul Chalklen trained EYRES ABOVETHEGROUND (Dream Away) Brent Mangos.

Race 6: The Doug Gale trained FIVE STAR ANVIL (McArdle) Simon McMullan.

Race 7: The John Dickie trained GREAT GETAWAY (Dream Vacation) Tony Herlihy.

Race 8: The Geoff Small trained SLOANE SQUARE (Christian Cullen) David Butcher.

Race 9: The Paul Evans trained FOREVER LOYAL (Knight Rainbow) Peter Ferguson. 

Race 10: The Steven Reid and Graeme Rogerson trained SUNLAW (Sundon) David Butcher.

Extensive results

Duane RANGER (editor)