PHIL KIRBY plans to make it a Lady’s day to remember. He just hasn’t decided when to hold the party.
The one certainty is there won’t be a shortage of people wanting an invite. Not when you consider his stable star has her own fan club, Facebook page and range of merchandise.
There will be more glamorous and more expensive horses on show at Cheltenham, but few anywhere near as popular as Lady Buttons.
And if the apple of Kirby’s eye lifts the Mares’ Hurdle, Champion Chase or her most likely destination, the Grand Annual, you’ll hear the roar all the way back to her North Yorkshire yard.
Lady B’s following has grown with every one of her 15 wins, but really started to rocket after Listed and Graded chase and hurdle wins at Doncaster a little over a year ago.
Kirby explained: “I’m not sure how it all started, but she’s got a massive fan club now. People just started taking to her and her form is getting better even though she’s ten. It really took off when she won a big race at Doncaster last year, and her owner, Jayne, bought Lady Buttons scarves for the kids at Christmas.
“Now so many want them they had to commission a new lot. We get so many loads wanting to come and see her and have a photo taken.
“And she knows she’s a star as well. She just stands up, pricks her ears, poses for pictures and loves the attention.
“She’s so popular and seems to be getting better and quicker. She very rarely turns in a bad one.”
Hurdles or chases, good, soft or heavy, it all comes alike to Lady Buttons, who — fittingly for such a star — enjoys a box with heat lamps hanging from the roof.
She has been with Kirby — a one-time footballer at Preston at the same time David Beckham was on loan there — since she was only weeks old.
It didn’t take long for him and wife Pippa to realise they had something special on their hands. He said: “Jayne and Keith Sivills bought her mother when she was in foal with her. They called in asking me to take a couple and she came here at just a few weeks old.
“These days I don’t really work her now, just the right bits at the right time. We know how good she is. She’s a star, and very straightforward.
“Jenny Durrans rides her most days and she’s one of the easiest to train.”
Lady Buttons’ versatility means Kirby will leave it as late as possible before deciding on her target . . . although the penultimate race of the Festival is most probable.
The Mares’ Hurdle is likely to mean facing both Benie Des Dieux and Honeysuckle, while the Champion Chase has a cast of stars such as Altior, Defi Du Seuil and Chacun Pour Soi.
All of that points to the Grand Annual — a race in which Kirby can see her becoming the leading Lady. He said: “I’ll only decide a couple of days before. I won’t just go to make up the numbers.
“At first the Grand Annual wasn’t really in the equation, but if she’s 10lb off top weight she could go there nearly favourite and she usually runs bang up to her mark.”
Wherever she goes, there would be no more fitting winner and the celebrations really would be something to behold.
As Kirby said: “We thought this year may be her last, but it’s hard to retire your best horse when she’s in the form of her life. If there was any sign she’d had enough we’d retire her immediately, she won’t have four runs to find out she’s gone.
“It would be the icing on the cake to win at Cheltenham and she probably deserves to as well.
“We try to have a party every time we have a winner, but one after a Festival win would really be unbelievable.”
Landlords of North Yorkshire, you have been warned . . .
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