Injured jockey Adam Nicol is spurred to return by prospect of riding Lady Buttons again

WINNING RETURN: Adam Nicol’s heartwarming success on Lady Buttons at Wetherby

COMEBACK KID: Adam Nichol rides Lady Buttons at Wetherby after recovering from injury

He will also feel sharp twinges in his back from two vertebrae fractures as he watches another rider get the leg up on Northern racing’s most popular horse.

Then, as he joins connections to watch Phil Kirby’s stable star canter to the start for the Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle, he will appreciate his luck.

For, despite a growing catalogue of injuries, the latest incurred on Boxing Day, he harbours hopes of riding Lady Buttons, owned and bred by North Yorkshire pub owners Jayne and Keith Sivills, later in the season.

She is the mare that inspired Nicol when he suffered a badly broken femur after being clattered by a pursuing horse in a fall at Musselburgh on January 1 last year.

Against the odds, he learned to walk again and made it back in time to partner Lady Buttons to victory at Wetherby on Charlie Hall Chase day in November.

His 13th win on this racing freak, who is just as effective over hurdles and steeplechase fences, it was also the most personally satisfying of the 30-year-old’s career as he punched the air.

Then calamity struck again exactly a month ago. Riding Kirby’s Robbing The Prey at Sedgefield, he initially thought he had bruised his back and could still ride Lady Buttons at Doncaster 48 hours later in the Yorkshire Silver Vase Mares’ Chase that she would ultimately win in a thrilling three-way finish under inspired ‘super sub’ Tommy Dowson.

Yet scans confirmed fractures to his L1 and L4 vertebrae – the latter being a particularly rare injury. Known as the ‘Chance fracture’ after the surgeon who developed treatment techniques following the Second World War, it was commonly suffered by motorists who were only wearing lap belts before shoulder belts became mandatory.

More recently, says Nicol, it has been suffered by soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the force of impact when their tank, or armoured vehicle, hits a land mine.

The good news, he says, is that his spinal cord was unscathed. “Every time you ride a horse, it is a risk,” explained a philosophical Nicol to The Yorkshire Post.

“There’s always that risk there. When you get off a horse, you know you’ve been lucky to get round. I’ve had some rotten luck with all these injuries. But, at the end of the day, I’m still walking and able to do everything and to lead a normal life.”

In addition to his femur and back injuries, he has lacerated his spleen – he was in intensive care for two days – and suffered a badly broken hand at Ayr in April, 2018. It needed to be screwed back together.

“The first half of my career, fantastic. I hardly had any injuries,” said Nicol, whose 12-year career has yielded 127 winners. “Come March, I will have been out for 17 of the last 22 month. I suppose it’s swings and roundabouts and the law of averages...”

He admits that the build-up to every Lady Buttons race can be challenging because the horse means everything to him and his girlfriend, Jennie Durrans, who looks after the mare. However, he is not setting an immediate date for his intended comeback in order to avoid disappointment as he steps up his rehab.

“When her name (Lady Buttons) gets mentioned, it’s not easy, but it is important to show support to the people who have supported me. Both Keith and Jayne (owners) have said she’s still my ride.”

With Sean Quinlan riding Lady Buttons today for the first time – Tommy Dowson partners Kirby’s Top Ville Ben in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham – Nicol will suffer mixed emotions.

After all, they are rivals on the course, colleagues in the weighing room and friends off the track. But they all, says Nicol, want each other to succeed.

Even more so, when they are on horses as good as Lady Buttons. “She tries her heart out,” adds Nicol. “I’ve won 13 races on her. Not many lads get a horse that good in their careers. Ever.”