Trainer-driver Anthony Butt confirmed Ballarat as a possible target after Wolf Stride claimed the Bendigo Cup on Saturday night.

Ballarat has loomed for sometime as a stepping stone for Wolf Stride to the $500,000 AG Hunter Cup at Melton on February 6.

His emphatic victory in Bendigo firmed up that likely pathway.

Wolf Stride settled at the back from a second row draw before getting a trail up into the race and then stamping his authority to beat home the Emma Stewart-trained Fourbigmen.

Wolf Stride shapes as the major challenger to the stand-out Lochinvar Art in Ballarat - if there is to be a danger,

Butt, who has entered a training partnership with Sonya Smith, knows all about winning Ballarat Cups.

The fomer New Zealander has claimed the marquee race three times as a reinsman - Stunin Cullen in 2011, Mah Sish in 2013 and Smolda in 2017.

The Ballarat Pacing Cup will be the first night of Harness Racing Victoria's Sumer of Glory Carnival, which culminates with the Hunter Cup.

HRV will combine with Ballarat and District Trotting Club to launch the carnival at Bray Raceway next Monday.

The Ballarat Pacing Cup barrier draw will also take place at the event.

The cup meeting will take on a different look this year, with Victoria Derby heats for three-year-olds no longer on the program.

With a change is harness racing season dates to now coincide with the calendar year, the Victoria Derby will be contested much later in the year.

The group 3 $30,000 E B Cochran Trotters Cup will be the main support race.