WHEN YOU’RE LUCKY enough to be around a horse that legendary trainer Vincent O’Brien described as “the best I’ve ever seen”, it’s little wonder racing stays in the blood.
For Adrian Butler, racehorse ownership is a family affair so it was only natural he’d own horses of his own after watching Golden Cygnet win every race he was entered into back in 1977/78.
Tragically, his unbeaten run was to come to an end in Scotland but Butler had seen enough to keep him interested for life.
“My father Patrick was involved in racing back in the late seventies and he owned a horse called Golden Cygnet.
“At the time, he was the highest rated novice and won the Supreme Novices’ at Cheltenham in 1978.
“He was trained by Eddie O’Grady and ridden by Niall Madden, father of Boots, and my father had a share in him with a couple of businessmen from Galway where my family are originally from.
“They bought the horse in the sales for less than 1,000 guineas but it won every race it ran before he was ultimately killed in a fall in the Scottish Champion Hurdle.
“As a young kid I was dragged around Leopardstown on Stephen’s Day when he won the Novice Hurdle there, then brought to Cheltenham and ultimately to Ayr which, obviously, wasn’t a good day because he was tanking along and only had to jump the last ahead of Night Nurse and he would have won.
“But still, the interest was there from that time.”
Butler has owned a number of horses over the years, both on his own and with others, and goes into the 2016 Cheltenham Festival with a horse he bought last year alongside his business partner Stephen O’Connor.
“I’m mainly involved in national hunt, though I have been involved in flat.
“I came over to London 25 years ago and got involved in racing myself and I’ve had a number of horses with the likes of Venetia Williams, Alan Swinbank — Alan was very good to me, I’d a number of winners with him — and a couple with Dermot Weld.
“Over the last couple of years I’ve been involved with Gordon Elliott. My company, The Underwriting Exchange, sponsor Gordon’s yard and my business partner Stephen and I had been saying to him for a while to keep an eye out for a horse, one we could have some fun with.
“An opportunity came up last year for Bless The Wings. The owner wanted to sell it and Gordon told us he was no world beater but he’d keep us interested and he could run in good quality handicaps and pick up a bit of prize-money.
“Obviously, we’d like to have the winner of the Gold Cup but that’s unlikely to happen so we invested in it and the plan is to throw him into the Cross Country at Cheltenham and the Aintree Grand National in a few weeks time.
“He’ll need a few to drop out of the latter in order to make it but you never know, we might get in by the skin of our teeth.”
Under previous ownership, the 11-year-old finished second to The Package in last year’s running of the Kim Muir at Cheltenham and Butler is hopeful that he has a chance of the places again this year when he runs on Wednesday.
“Will we beat Josies Orders? I don’t think we will but we’ll have a bit of craic and we bring a lot of Irish clients over for Cheltenham. We’ve been staying in the same hotel for the past 25 years, had the same seats for the past 25 years so we’ve a bit of routine going.
“Cheltenham is something we love being involved with. It’s always somewhere you meet loads of people you know and the socialising is good for the business.
“If I’m being honest, I’m surprised a horse like Foxrock is in the race too, that’s a very good horse and when I looked at the entries I thought it was a strange place for him to go.
“It’s a unique race though and a tricky course but our lad ran there twice before Christmas and finished third in November and fourth in December, both times behind Josies Orders, but he finished first in Fairyhouse in November so he’s not without his chances on the day.
“We go with a bit of confidence I’d say. He’s not a bad horse and he jumps and he stays so you can’t ask for more than that in a three mile, seven furlong race. He’ll go on any ground and he’ll run a good race.”
Butler is the first to admit that racehorse ownership is not cheap, but there are more ways than ever to get into it without having pockets as deep as JP McManus’.
“Owning a racehorse is expensive, the monthly bills can add up, especially if you have to factor in vets’ fees too. Genuinely though, the prize money in Ireland is nice in that middle tier of handicap hurdles and handicap chases and if your horse wins a few or even places regularly it almost pays for itself.
“Everyone would obviously love to have the resources of the Rich Riccis and Michael O’Learys of this world but that’s not always possible and syndicates are a great way for people who have €200 to spend rather than €200,000 to get involved in racing.
“Gordon, for example, has a racing club where people can buy shares in a horse and there are a number of different ways of getting involved in syndicates. It’s also a great way for younger people to get involved in racing.”
Butler’s interest in the sport goes beyond ownership however.
“We sponsor a couple of races but we decided we’d like to sponsor a young, up-and-coming trainer. We knew Gordon for years so we took the opportunity to sponsor his yard.
“Our company looks after the insurance in Ireland for a lot of the racecourses and a lot of the racehorse trainers and we’re even involved in showjumping. So we like to give a little bit back by sponsoring various races and events like ‘Jumping in the City.’”
Next week, however, Butler will have his owners hat very much on. But is his 20/1 shot worth a punt?
“I’ve always wanted to have a winner at Cheltenham but look, if we’re lucky enough to get placed, we’ll be delighted.”
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