‘HORSE OF A LIFETIME’ BUTTONS IS RETIRED

POPULAR mare Lady Buttons has been retired after sustaining an injury, with trainer Phil Kirby describing her as ‘our horse of a lifetime’. Lady Buttons won 15 of her 33 starts, recording victories on the Flat, over hurdles and fences. She earned almost £300,000 in prize money. The 10-year-old was particularly potent at Doncaster, winning on five of her six starts there. On her last run, Lady Buttons finished seventh to Honeysuckle in the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March. In a tweet, Kirby said: ‘A small setback meant she would have been on the sidelines until Christmas and a spring return would not have been in Buttons’ best interests. We’re delighted that she will remain with us to become a broodmare.’

EWBANK CALLENDER, Racing Editor for the Daily Mail from 1962 until his retirement in 1988, has died at the age of 94. Callender, who had worked at the

News Chronicle before joining the Daily Mail, also tipped under the pseudonym Gimcrack, memorably going through the card when picking all seven winners at Beverley in 1984. During his spell in charge of racing coverage, the Daily Mail broke the story of the notorious Gay Future betting scam in 1975.

ANTHONY JOSHUA’S fight with Kubrat Pulev will go ahead this year despite yesterday’s announcement that fans cannot return to major sporting events. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had been hoping the heavyweight world-title fight would take place on December 12 at the O2 in front of 5,000-plus fans. He said: ‘Our intention now is carry on with all our scheduled events. Clearly the finances are affected by not having crowds, but we’re working to keep our schedule. That includes Joshua. We’ll go ahead in December for Joshua because it’s been a year since he fought Andy Ruiz and he needs to fight.’