Turf Notabilities.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume III, Issue 108, 18 August 1892, Page 4

Turf Notabilities.

The subject of the Canterbury Times article under the above heading in its issue of Thursday last is Mr. P. Butler, who is so well known and liked by all grades of turfites in New Zealand. We make the following extracts from our con temporary’s article : — “ The genial Irishman is now 40 years of age, and has spent most of his life in the Colony, for he landed in Lyttelton as far back as 1863, coming out to join a brother who was a contractor and who lived in the vicinity of Christchurch. After attending school for between two and three years, he in 1866 entered Mr. Webb’s stable and learnt the rudiments of the calling he had elected to follow. Leaving Bush Inn after a residence there of a little over a year, he obtained a situation under Mr. Mallock’s trainer, Fred Dillon, and went to Heathstock, where the horses were prepared. There Butler lived 18 months, his special charge being Backbiter, a horse that did good service to his owner. On leaving Heathstock, Butler roamed about for a bit, doing a little riding. His very first mount in public was in a Selling Race on Lady of the Lake, a mare of Mr. R. M. Morten’s, the event being won by Miss Flat, now

famous as the dam of Welcome Jack. At Leeston, on a horse named Lunatic, he scored his first win. Butler, however, before leaving school was no lightweight, and as each year he got heavier, his opportunities of appearing in silk were limited. Indeed from the outset he devoted himself not so much to the riding as to the preparation of horses, and in a few years he gave up service in the saddle altogether. One of the rare occasions on which he afterwards donned a jacket was when he steered The Agent to victory in a Ladies Purse in the Wairarapa. More recently still, he rode his trotter Daisy and won the chief trotting stake at Napier.” After describing our friend’s successful career with The Agent, Luna, King Quail, Fusilier, Faugh-a-Ballagh, Artillery, Manton, and Crackshot, our contemporary concludes : —“ The walls of the parlour at Enfield where Butler now trains testify as to the animals he most favoured. These are Manton, Artillery, Crackshot, The Agent, Faugh-a-Ballagh, and Luna, and it is interesting to observe that the whole six are still in the land of the living, the oldest of them, The Agent, being pensioned at Ashburton. Other mementos of past events are to be noticed in the living rooms of the trainer’s home, not the least interesting of which remind us that before he put on flesh Butler was a smart athlete, and he can tell of more than a few sprint matches in which he came off best. In those days he was a genial rollicking young fellow, ready to enter into any fun. His geniality and goodheartedness he still retains—and will retain to the end of the chapter. Butler became a Benedict some ten years ago, and his and Mrs. Butler’s numerous friends throughout the Colony will receive with unfeigned gladness, tidings of any success that comes their way.”