Lady Buttons to stay in training and take ‘one race at a time’

However, connections say they will take it “one race a time” with the mare before deciding when to retire her for breeding purposes.

Now one of the sport’s most popular horses, Lady Buttons won at Wetherby last November before winning two races at Doncaster – one over fences and then a Grade Two hurdle race – to underline her versatility.

She was then a well-beaten seventh to the Rachael Blackmore-inspired Honeysuckle in the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham – trainer Phil Kirby is unsure whether his stable star ran a below-par performance or was unsuited by the track.

Lady Buttons was then due to run at Aintree’s Grand National meeting next week before owner Jayne Sivills, whose husband Keith bred the mare, and Kirby met to discuss the horse’s future.

But, with the coronavirus crisis leading to racing’s suspension, the decision – for now – is to race on, starting with the Mares’ Hurdle at Wetherby on Charlie Hall Chase day in early November.

“We have decided we will bring her back and go for Wetherby and then the two Doncaster races,” said Sivills, whose family have been forced to shut the Tiger Inn pub at Easington because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We will see how she is when she comes back. One race at a time. Phil (Kirby) will get her ready to race in November, and then Doncaster. Maybe then retire her and put her in foal.”

Sivills also told The Yorkshire Post: “If she was to come back, and wasn’t as well as we thought, we would retire her, but, this past season, she was as good as ever at Wetherby and Doncaster.”

From 33 starts, Lady Buttons has won 15 races – a remarkable record of consistency – and earned her connections nearly £300,000 in prize money.

She has also been the making of her jockey Adam Nicol and, more recently, Tommy Dowson when his weighing room colleague has been on the injury sidelines.

But Kirby, who trains at Catterick, conceded: “I suppose I was a bit disappointed by how she ran at Cheltenham – I thought she might finish a bit closer than she did. Whether she doesn’t like the track or she just struggled in that bit higher grade, I’m not sure.

“I’m not going to make any excuses for her, because she went there in very good form and it just didn’t happen, but she’s been fine since and is now on holiday.”

While Lady Buttons ran a little below expectations at the Festival, her stablemate, Rayna’s World, massively outran odds of 100-1 when finishing strongly from a long way back for third in the Daylesford Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle under Dowson.

“I thought she’d run well and put up a big show, but I didn’t expect her to end up so far behind,” Kirby added.

“She’s a nice mare, and I was conscious early in the new year of keeping her a novice for next season, rather than winning a little maiden hurdle somewhere.”

Kirby’s National Hunt string is winding down now, but the trainer is still hoping for a swift resumption of racing.

“Some of the people who ride out for us have gone elsewhere, but they would have done anyway in the next few weeks, with a lot of horses going out on holiday,” he said.

“We’ve managed to keep all the full-time staff on at the moment. Some of them are taking holidays and things. At the moment, we’re still busy enough. I’m muck-spreading as we speak – and even though there isn’t a lot of horses to ride out, there’s still plenty to do about the place.

“I think we have about 20 horses to run on the Flat – which isn’t as many as previous years, because we made a conscious decision to mainly concentrate on the jumpers.

“That is plenty to keep us going, once we hopefully get racing again.”