The five-year-old had finished out of a place in his first four runs after a 15-week spell before bouncing back with a second at Albury on Oaks Day.

“He had a bit of a problem with the hard ground, now that we’ve had this rain, it suits him a lot better,” Loy said.

“He’s just starting to get back to his best with the sting coming out of the ground in the past week or so.”

Those four races were held on either good three or four tracks.

Butler Butler finished 10^th at Wagga on October 18, fourth at Albury a week earlier, last on September 28 and second last at Wangaratta.

The 1500m last week was a soft seven.

“Just with the hard grounds, we’ve still tried to keep him going, keep his fitness up,” Loy said.

“We saw when the sting does come out of the ground, he went from (long odds of $41 at Albury on October 13) to $6.50 (last week), but we just ran into a better one.”

Canberra trainer Garry Kirkup’s La Biere Choisie proved too strong at Albury.

Butler Butler led at both the 800 and 400m mark on the Border track.

“His racing pattern’s always been on the lead or right there with the leaders,” Loy said.

“I always feel his best racing is taking them into the lane and while he’s doing that, he can run home quite well.”

The gelding will look to snap a nine-month winning drought in the $27,000 Benchmark 65 Hair of the Dog Cup (1800m).

Butler Butler’s last success was at Albury in February.

It rounded out three wins in a six-race stretch, including a victory at Gundagai in September, 2017.

Jockey Simon Miller claimed that win and he’ll look to repeat that effort.

Miller snared successive wins at Leeton and Gundagai, while Josh Richards was on board for the last win.

Loy’s son Brodie nabbed the maiden win at Gundagai.

The uniquely named Hair of the Dog Cup is the feature event of the seven-race meet.