Lady Buttons retired after racing’s Queen of the North suffers setback

The 10-year-old was discovered yesterday to have heat in the same leg where she suffered a tendon injury earlier in her career.

Kirby discovered the slight lameness as he prepared to take the horse out for a hack yesterday.

However Catterick-based Kirby, in conjunction with the mare’s owner-breeders Jayne and Keith Sivills, say they don’t want to risk ‘Buttons’ – racing’s ‘Queen of the North’ – aggravating the injury in any future race.

The award-winning horse had been due to reappear in a mares’ race at Wetherby next month where she would have been seeking a hat-trick of wins.

“We’ve made the decision – she owes us nothing,” said Jayne Sivills as she celebrated a horse of a lifetime who won 15 out of her 33 starts.

“She needs at least six weeks off and, by the time, she’s back, it wouldn’t be until February and March and the bigger races.

“God forbid we raced her and she broke down altogether. We are all of the same opinion – she owes has nothing – and she has another job.”

This was due to be the final season in which Lady Buttons competed before she attempts to become a brooadmare next year.

The horse’s last run came at the Cheltenham Festival in March when she was unplaced in a Grade One Mares’ Hurdle behind Honeysuckle.

Lady Buttons has been integral to the rise of Kirby as a top trainer and the careers of recently retired jockey Adam Nicol and, more recently, Tommy Dowson.

And Kirby, and his stable, have now added their own tribute toa horse who was equally adept and prolific over hurdles and fences.

In a tribute, they said: “It’s been a significant morning here at the yard and time has been called on a wonderful career.

“Our horse of a lifetime, and the people’s favourite, Lady Buttons, has been retired. Keith, Jayne and all of us here would like to Thankyou so much for sharing her incredible racing story with us.

“What a legend she has been, and the decision to retire her this morning was typical of her devoted Owners, putting their mare first.

“A small setback meant she would have been on the sidelines until Christmas, and a Spring return would not have been in Buttons best interests. With a few months now to chill, her second career begins in the Spring and we’re delighted that she will remain with us to become their broodmare.”
They added: “We can’t wait to see her in the fields with a foal by her side….one chapter is over but the next one begins.”[email protected]

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James Mitchinson