story by Dave Briggs
photos by Dave Landry
Serendipity has a lot to do with Mark Horner ending up with the horse that changed his life. In October of 2004, the St. Marys, ON-based trainer was arriving at the Kentucky Standardbred sale in Lexington when fellow trainer Garth Gordon told Horner to go straight to the auction ring and buy a Northern Luck—Better Butter colt named Button Up.
“He loved him,” Horner said. “I went on Garth’s word. We had spent time looking at horses before and I have great respect for his advice… I did check (Button Up) quickly and he looked good, so we bought him.”
The price was $18,000, but little did Horner know at the time, but Button Up would end up earning more than 41 times that amount. Over 12 racing seasons, the Ontario Sired horse earned $752,692 before being retired from racing earlier this year due to health reasons at age 13. Button Up won 49 times over 341 career starts in which he hit the board a whopping 170 times (50 per cent with a career record of 49-71-50).
Horner said he would have liked Button Up to earn his 50
th career win, but, “We will have to be happy with 49 wins and incredible stats.”
The highlight of the horse’s 12-year racing career actually came in year one when he won the $300,000 Battle of Waterloo in 2005 at Grand River Raceway by seven lengths with Horner’s brother, Mike, in the sulky. “Our whole family was there it was a great day,” Mark said.
Over the next 11 years, Button Up continued to churn out money for Mark, who has trained the winners of more than $7 million in his career.
“I think like all great horses, he had the will to compete and win and he was tough as nails,” Mark said. “He had great gate speed and was sound for a lot of years.”
The trainer said Button Up “covered up a lot of mistakes” made with other horses. “I had nice ones before him like Cassidy Seelster, The Masters and few others, but (Button Up) put me in position every year to play the game and get one like Franceschettie and Pinky Tuscadero. In short, (Button Up) has been team captain for many years.”
Mark said Button Up has a home for life at the trainer’s farm and is enjoying retirement.
“Let's just say he has us all trained,” Mark said. “He's the boss and the rest of us are his servants. He's a beautiful animal and we have been blessed to have him in our life.
“Sometimes it is just getting the right halter at a sale.”
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