One of the greatest hunter chasers, Double Silk started at odds of just 6/1 for the 1994 Grand National which involved three Cheltenham Gold Cup winners.
That meagre price was not completely fanciful, for three weeks earlier Double Silk had beaten another great of the hunter chase scene, Teaplanter, when landing his second Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase, and his winning time was only 3.8 seconds slower than that taken by The Fellow when he won the Gold Cup on the same afternoon. In addition, Double Silk had won Aintree's Foxhunters' Chase one year earlier when showing a natural aptitude for Aintree's big fences.
Owned and trained on the Mendip Hills by retired dairy farmer Reg Wilkins, Double Silk made his point-to-point debut at the age of six and raced on until he was 14.
Wilkins had bought the son of Dubassoff as a five-year-old and gave him lessons in hunting with the Mendip Farmers across a landscape of stone walls. The education was not wasted, for Double Silk completed the course in all but one of his 39 races. Ron Treloggen, a fellow Somerset farmer who at 34 became the horse's regular rider in races, said some years later: "He was educated in an event yard and was expected to go three-day eventing, but was too bold for that and had a wind problem, so we bought him, operated on his wind, and he went on to beat the best. He won ten hunter chases in a row – not many horses do that."
Wilkins was a patient man and his horse was not an immediate hit, running twice in 1990 under the familiar weight of 12st 7lb and finishing third on debut in the Mendip Farmers' members' race at the now defunct track of Nedge before a fifth-place finish in a maiden race at the same track.
Returning to Nedge the following season Double Silk landed a 17-runner maiden race, defeating none other than the Richard Barber-trained Rushing Wild, who went on to win a Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase and finish second in Jodami's Gold Cup. Yet Wilkins had been keen to tackle another race on the card, as Treloggen remembered, saying: "Reg had wanted to win the members' race for 40 years and entered Double Silk. I had no idea about this ambition, and when I was offered another ride in the race I asked him to run his horse in the maiden. He agreed straight away. That was the mark of the man."
Restricted and adjacent race (now confined race) successes completed Double Silk's second season, and while he was beaten when tackling an intermediate at the start of the following year he duly won his members' race which Wilkins so cherished. Stepping up to hunters' chases he finished second at Wincanton and Wolverhampton before a narrow win at Ascot, another confined victory (under 12st 10lb) at Cotley and a first success at Cheltenham's evening meeting, each time showing the front-running style for which he became synonymous.
A double of Foxhunter Chases
In an era when horses, especially big chasers like Double Silk, were invariably given a run as part of their training schedule Wilkins' gelding finished third on his season's debut at Wincanton in 1993 but then shot to the top of the hunters' chase tree with five straight wins, including successes in both Foxhunter Chases. En-route he beat Moorcroft Boy at Warwick – the runner-up became a high-class handicapper who took the Scottish National – before winning at Cheltenham, rewarding his followers at odds of 12/1. In that race Double Silk won from the front and beat Ireland's top hunter Kerry Orchid (ridden by Tony Martin) by one and a half lengths with Once Stung (Johnny Greenall) five lengths back in third. Kerry Orchid went on to land that season's Punchestown Champion Hunters' Chase, beating another great in Elegant Lord.
Double Silk (Ron Treloggen) leads Moorcroft Boy (left, Tom Jenks) and Seven Of Diamonds (Malcolm Batters) during the 1993 Cheltenham Foxhunter Chase (copyright John Beasley)
Sent off the 5/2 favourite to achieve the Foxhunter double by winning at Aintree, Double Silk took up the running at the third and won impressively, beating Dark Dawn (Johnny Greenall) and Mandraki Shuffle (Alex Harvey) by five lengths and six lengths. He completed the season with victories at Cheltenham's April and May meetings.
Four more straight hunters' chase wins were the tale of his season in 1994 when he galloped his rivals into easy submission at Chepstow, Sandown and Warwick before that fast-time victory over Teaplanter in Cheltenham's Foxhunter Chase in which he started at 2/5.
An Aintree dilemma
Wilkins then faced the dilemma of sending his horse back to Aintree for what appeared to be a straightforward assignment in the Foxhunters' Chase or running him under his trainer's permit in the National. Against a background of considerable media interest, a novelty for a quietly-spoken Mendips farmer who trained just two horses, he opted for the big race. Thirty-six runners faced the starter, and while Double Silk's tale – and a weight of just 10st 4lb – drew numerous small bets that saw his price shrink there was a late gamble on former rival Moorcroft Boy which saw that horse go off the 5/1 favourite.
For 12 fences fans of hunter chasing were in heaven, as Double Silk and Treloggen led their rivals, soaring over Bechers', negotiating the Canal Turn and turning back for home on the first circuit in apparent control of their destiny. If he could complete a full lap and jump the formidable Chair he would surely take some catching – but it wasn't to be. At the 13th fence, one before the Chair, Double Silk fell in front of the field, and in the melee was kicked by rivals, suffering broken ribs. A loose horse, galloping just ahead of him, had flicked some spruce when jumping the fence which may have distracted him, but it could not be undone. Victory went to the Martin Pipe-trained Miinnehoma (Richard Dunwoody), who was owned by Freddie Starr, a mad-cap comedian as famous then as Ant and Dec today.
Reflecting on the fall Treloggen said: "The thing that does make me angry is that the race was run at all – it should have been postponed. There was torrential rain the day before and it was said the race would be off if there was any appreciable further rain. Following hail stones overnight there was snow in the morning and still the race went ahead. They were determined to hold it because one year earlier the race had been called off in the false-start fiasco.
"Double Silk simply couldn't get his feet out of the mud when he landed over that fence."
After recuperation in Somerset Double Silk reappeared ten months later and with two easy wins at Warwick appeared none the worse, but in truth he had slipped from superstar to high class. Invincible on quick ground, it was in hindsight a strange decision by Wilkins to run his horse on heavy going at Kempton just three days after the second of those Warwick wins, and he trailed in third of four runners.
Returning to Cheltenham for the Foxhunter Chase he raced with prominence, but not dominance, eventually losing his position to finish fifth, albeit behind a quartet of top-notchers as Fantus (Polly Curling) beat Holland House (Charlie Vigors), Elegant Lord (Tony Martin) and Davy Blake (Michael Dun).
Among the best in final seasons
As a 12-year-old Double Silk remained among the best, defying heavy ground to win a weak hunters' chase at Hereford before being outgunned by Rolling Ball at Warwick – the winner went on to take Aintree's Foxhunters' Chase under Richard Ford – and then completing a light season with an easy win against weak opposition at Cheltenham's evening meeting. The following year he scored at Wincanton, finished fifth for the second time behind Fantus (Tim Mitchell) in Cheltenham's Foxhunter Chase, and then gave a 7lb claimer and rising star a winning ride at the same course's April meeting – that was the first time many people had heard of Evan Williams.
Reunited with Treloggen he finished second at the evening hunters' chase meeting to the Venetia Williams-trained Celtic Abbey (Dai Jones) who subsequently won Stratford's Champion Hunters Chase (Horse & Hound Cup).
At the age of 14 and in his final season Double Silk remained hard to beat, going down by a head to Holland House at Lingfield on what was to be Treloggen's final ride on the horse. Williams took over for an easy win at Warwick and a third-place finish at Chepstow before another young amateur who was destined for bigger things took the reins, although Joe Tizzard's two spins did not include a victory. They finished a close second at Cheltenham's evening meeting to Cavalero (Alex Charles-Jones), a fabulous horse who had won Aintree's Foxhunters' Chase and would later triumph in the Cheltenham equivalent, and were then fourth in Double Silk's only attempt on Stratford's big race. The three ahead of him, Teeton Mill (Shirley Vickery), Grimley Gale (Mark Jackson) and Jigtime (Mark Bradburne) were all high-class operators, the winner going on to take Kempton's King George VI Chase.
Wilkins died in April 2006 at the age of 79, but not before he had unearthed another very smart performer called Double Thriller, who rose through the pointing ranks under Treloggen and Tizzard, walloped Teeton Mill at Cheltenham's evening meeting and was later transferred to Paul Nicholls who trained just a few miles from Wilkins' home. Tizzard rode Double Thriller to finish fourth in the 1999 Gold Cup and they were sent off the 7/1 second co-favourites for that year's National, but fell at the first fence.
Treloggen's brush with fame was not confined to one horse, for he also formed an unlikely association with Pembrokeshire trainer Peter Bowen and the enigmatic Brunico, a horse who benefited from the Mendip farmer's guile and experience, and who became Britain's champion pointer in 1992 and 1993.
All-time Greats - see the next in the series this Friday