Prime Minister’s Cup miracle cure for Benny’s Buttons enables him to walk on water

BENNY’S Buttons is the medical miracle who lives in a swimming pool to soothe his aches and pains and nurse him through to raceday.

Benny's Buttons with jockey Michael Cahill.

HE IS the horse who walks on water.

Benny’s Buttons is the medical miracle who just about lives in a swimming pool to soothe his aches and pains and nurse him through to raceday.

The Kelso Wood-trained gelding twice broke down badly with successive serious leg injuries and it is only an extraordinary rehabilitation regime that keeps him chugging along.

Part-owner Michelle Lang-McMahon treats him like a family pet and brings him back to the Kolora Lodge horse spelling and rehab property in the Gold Coast hinterland between his races.

The swimming pool and water-walker, with regular ice on his legs, gets him ready for his next race start.

Benny’s Buttons’ Winter Carnival campaign launches on Saturday, in the Prime Minister’s Cup (1300m) on the Gold Coast, but there will be bigger fish to fry.

And the swimming pool will be the secret behind the fairytale story should Benny’s Buttons gets through to the ultimate goal of a start in the rich Stradbroke Handicap on June 7.

‘’We never really put him on the training track in between runs and he just spends time in the pool and he does a bit of show jumping and dressage work,’’ Lang-McMahon said.

‘’Being a mature horse now, he knows what to do and there is not a lot of point galloping him around a racetrack.’’

Benny’s Buttons finishes best out wide to score at Doomben

Benny’s Buttons may have had a stack of injuries but the sprinter also has a stack of ability.

That was there for all to see in May last year when the gelding flashed home to win the BRC Dash (1000m) off an incredible injury spell of 679 days.

With no official trials off such a long spell, punters sent the gelding around at $14 but were left licking their wounds when it stormed home over the top of a good field.

Lang-McMahon co-owned Real Surreal which won last year’s Magic Millions but freely admits Benny’s Buttons is her favourite horse. And the Stradbroke would be a dream come true.

‘’Kelso has quietly mentioned the Stradbroke a few times and I think he has got it just sitting in the back of his mind,’’ Lang-McMahon said.

‘’We will see what Benny’s runs are like but if he is on song, for sure, we will look at the Stradbroke.’’

Meanwhile, the time-honoured Group 1 JJ Atkins (1600m) at Eagle Farm on Stradbroke Day is still searching for a sponsor, less than six weeks out from the race.