Frank Butters

Who was Frank Butters?

Frank Joseph Arthur Butters was a racehorse trainer specialising in flat racing who trained in Austria, Italy and England in the first half of the 20th century. He trained for two of the most successful owner-breeders in British racing at the time, Lord Derby and HH Aga Khan III, and was British flat racing Champion Trainer on eight occasions.

Frank Butters was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1878 while his father Joseph Butters was training racehorses there. He was educated in Britain but returned to Austria as an assistant to his father. He was interned in Austria during World War I and trained in Italy after the war.

In 1926 he returned to Britain to start a four-year contract as Lord Derby's trainer at Stanley House stables in Newmarket in succession to George Lambton. He trained a number of Classic winners for the Earl and also trained for other owners, winning the Epsom Oaks in 1927 for the Earl of Durham. In 1930 Lord Derby terminated Butters' employment but he set up as a public trainer and when the Aga Khan split with Dick Dawson, Butters took over as his trainer.

He trained for the Aga Khan until forced to retire after a serious bicycle accident in 1949.