Newton Butler

Article by Alan Trout

Born in 1875, National Hunt jockey Newton Butler enjoyed a measure of success at the turn of the 20th century, riding 19 winners, with a best score of eight in 1900. He began his career with a comfortable success on the strangely named Ingebrigth in the Maiden Hurdle at Ludlow on March 11, 1898, beating the odds-on favourite Mitre, ridden by top amateur Charles Beatty, by six lengths. It was Newton’s only win of the season, but he was to score in each of the next five. 

Just 13 days after his Ludlow win, he had his only ride around the Grand National course, when a faller on Look Out in the Altcar Four-Year-Old Steeplechase. Those severe fences presented a demanding task for any horse, let alone an inexperienced four-year-old. 

It was not until Ludlow’s corresponding fixture twelve months later that Newton rode his second winner, Look Out, evidently unaffected by his Aintree experience, but he then rode another the very next afternoon aboard Holmfirth on the second day of that Ludlow meeting. 

Newton won again on Holmfirth at Gatwick in January 1900, the first of eight winners he rode that year. The other seven were courtesy of just two horses: three wins on hurdler Kendal Boy and four aboard hurdler/chaser Search Light. 

One unfortunate incident took place at Pershore on October 9, 1902, when, riding the odds-on favourite Rhyton, he beat leading amateur Arthur ‘Stosher’ Wood, champion jockey in both 1898 and 1899, in a match for the Tiddesley Steeplechase. An objection to Rhyton on the grounds that he carried “insufficient weight” was upheld and he was duly disqualified.

Newton’s last win was at Hereford on Easter Monday, April 13, 1903, when his mount Misty Light won the Coronation Steeplechase by a length. He did not renew his licence for the 1904 season. 

Newton Butler’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Ingebrigt, Ludlow, March 11, 1898 

2. Look Out, Ludlow, March 7, 1899

3. Holmfirth, Ludlow, March 8, 1899

4. Ingebrigt, Moreton-in-Marsh, April 7, 1899

5. Conjure, Bromyard, May 11, 1899

6. Holmfirth, Gatwick, January 4, 1900

7. Kendal Boy, Pershore, April 2, 1900 

8. Kendal Boy, Hereford, April 16, 1900

9. Search Light, Cardiff, April 17, 1900

10. Kendal Boy, Worcester, April 19, 1900

11. Search Light, Keele Park, May 3, 1900

12. Search Light, Colwall Park, May 10, 1900

13. Search Light, Colwall Park, October 18, 1900

14. Jubert, Ludlow, March 5, 1901

15. Rhyton, Shirley Park, September 30, 1901

16. Rhyton, Shirley Park, February 26, 1902

17. Rhyton, Moreton-in-Marsh, April 3, 1902

18. Crow’s Nest, Quorn Hunt (Loughborough), April 14, 1902

19. Misty Light, Hereford, April 11, 1903