TURF TOPICS.

Shannon News, 29 August 1924, Page 3

TURF TOPICS.

Old-time sportsmen, will regret to' learn of the death of that well-known turf personality, Mr Patrick Butlor. says the Christcliureh Sun of Tuesday. Three decades ago' "Patsy;," as he; was affectionately known, was one of the DominiorVs foremost trainers, his lame.being associated mainly with the ! doings of those great horses, The*; Agent, Manton, Artillery, Crackshot and Liberator. As a, youith he was as- j soeiaied with the stable of Messrs Mai-' lqck and Lance, ahd subsequently took service w : ith Messrs R. M. Morton,, Joss, Osborne, and W. C. Webb. in ; those days Butler was an acoompUshea horseman, and coujd go to scale at from 7.7 to 8.0. SuDsequently he set up as a trainer in Dunedin, and was associated with such successful "horsey as TH Bits, Marlborough and Au Reyoir. "On coming to Ra'ccarton he secured Manton, who carried the popular green and white livery to victory in the New Zealand Cup, C.J.G. Derby, and Canterbury Cup. Artilleiy anu Grackshot were other winners of the Canterbury Gup, while with Liberator, Butler captured the Grand National Hurdle Race, Great Northern Hurdle Race. Great Northern Steeplechase. As a judge of horseflesh and a competent trainer, especially of long-distance horses, the genial Irishman! had few equals. 'As an athlete also Butler had a rather sensational career, among those lie raced against being those oldtime celebrities, J. Harris and Hullett. Generous to a fault Butler was beloved by thousands who knew him : in the hey-day of his racing career. It is not often that anyone has the .pleasure, or otherwise, of reading their own obituary notice, but such a rare happening was claimed with gen- j i'al enjoyment by the late Patrick But-1 ler. Some 15 year's ago the death of j Manton's owner was reported in an j Auckland paper, and generally accepted as correct. It fell to the writer to do his obituary " notice, and as one | who had known and respected him j£or many years, it was done full justice to. Some months later I was at a SoutlT Canterbury meeting, and one of the first people dropped across was a very much alive ''Patsy" Butler. After explaining that, like Mark "the report of his death had been grossly exaggerated," the genial Irishman thanked me for the nice tilings I had said about him, and suggested that the event should be celebrated by drinking his health, j The late Mr Butlerf was a brother of Mr W. Butler, of Shannon, and they were associated, in many of the incidents referred to above, the latter riding Manton in a number of rapes. j j ! I