Lady Buttercup

That sole victory came at Warwick in September 2024, and it remains the high point of her career so far. At two years and counting since that win, the team at Donald McCain's yard in Cholmondeley, Cheshire, are still waiting for a repeat. McCain is one of the more productive trainers in the game — 55 winners sent out from his stable this season alone — so Lady Buttercup is not short of professional support. She just hasn't been able to capitalise on it lately, finishing no better than fourth in her last six races, with a couple of results deep in the field.

Where she shows her best form is over longer trips of two miles or more, where she has won 1 from 6 races (a win rate of about 17%). That is still modest, but it is meaningfully better than her overall record, which suggests distance at least suits her. She races mainly at Class 5 level — the bread-and-butter end of the sport, a long way from the big occasions — and has won 1 of her 8 races at that level. Her most regular jockey is Charlie Maggs, who has ridden her to that 1 win from their 5 races together, a win rate of 20%, which is actually the best version of Lady Buttercup we have seen.

She raced just yesterday, so the yard are clearly keeping her busy and in good heart. At six years old, she is in the middle of her career, and there is no reason to think the story is finished. But for now, Lady Buttercup is the kind of horse you find yourself rooting for precisely because the wins are so hard to come by — and Warwick, September 2024, will mean a little more to her followers than it might for a horse who wins every other week.