Silver Streak: the grey warrior who had an unconventional route to the top

Silver Streak is very much a horse of routine. “He can be a crotchety old devil,” remarks his trainer Evan Williams about the problems the grey can cause at his home in the Welsh countryside.

“He likes to be fed at the same time every day. He rolls in his box at the same time every day. All he wants is to be fed, looked after and taken to the races.”

It is therefore ironic that the dazzling grey – now a proud Grade 1 winner having beaten the seemingly unbeatable Epatante in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton – has had a career that has been anything but routine.

“He’s got the heart the size of a lion. He’s not a brilliant work horse, he’s not even a horse you give a pat to and expect a bit of love back, but Silver Streak and his attitude will always be very high on my list because he’s always got that grey head and nose down trying his best.”

That is how the affable Welshman speaks of Silver Streak now as he likens choosing his favourite horses to picking a favourite child. However, the path to earning such an elevated standing among Fingerpost Farm’s finest has been far from straightforward.

Evan Williams: 'Silver Streak and his attitude will always be very high on my list of best horses'Credit: Harry Trump

As you would expect of a son of the prolific sire Dark Angel, Silver Streak’s life began as a two-year-old on the Flat while under the care of Ann Duffield in the splendid surroundings of the Yorkshire Dales. Despite boasting a solid pedigree as full brother to a winner and a half-brother to five more, Silver Streak found success much harder to come by, and an unenviable record of zero wins from seven starts left Duffield scratching her head over what to do next.

Three juvenile hurdles came and went with a runner-up spot in a Class 5 at Wetherby the best Silver Streak had to show for his efforts, after which he was offered for sale at Doncaster in November 2016.

In attendance at the sales that day was Les Fell, a Yorkshire farmer and longstanding supporter of Williams’ Glamorgan-based stable through his ownership of six-time winner Buck Mulligan, and Catherine Williams, wife of Evan.

Five months after Buck Mulligan had stepped back from racing under rules, Fell was on the lookout for a young, exciting horse to satisfy his passion for racing, and an under-the-radar Silver Streak fitted the bill.

“We always have a good look at horses-in-training sales and Doncaster has been lucky for us over the years,” Williams says. “We had Mr Fell, who has been a supporter of ours for a long time, and he was looking for a young horse with Flat and hurdle experience.

“We were in the right place at the right time and we were very lucky that he had been beautifully trained as a young horse.”

A “punt” was taken at a price of £25,000 – a decision that has paid off handsomely for all concerned given the £438,922 Silver Streak has since amassed. However, a glittering hurdles career was not exactly what his new connections initially had in mind.

“He hadn’t shown a lot on the Flat or over hurdles but my wife thought he was worth a bit of a punt because she thought he was the type of horse that might stretch out and jump a fence one day,” Williams surprisingly explains. That idea, much like Silver Streak’s attitude towards the larger obstacles, did not get far off the ground.

He adds: “I don’t know where the sense was of buying a son of Dark Angel and thinking we could go chasing! We tried to jump a fence with him but he has no interest in it because all he wants to do is get from A to B as hard as he can.”

Silver Streak on his debut for Evan Williams in a 0-100 handicap hurdle at TauntonCredit: Phil Mingo/Pinnacle

Fanfare was scarce and expectations were scant, even after Silver Streak cruised home in convincing fashion on his debut for his new connections at Taunton in late 2016 under Paul Moloney, who was riding one of the last winners of a highly successful partnership with Williams.

"He ran at Taunton and we thought it was a particularly poor race,” the trainer recalls. “I was actually talking to Paul after we won the Christmas Hurdle and I said to him I couldn’t believe he made such a song and dance about winning a 0-100 handicap hurdle at Taunton when he’s a Grade 1 horse! We had no expectations yet, we were just very happy to win a low-grade race.”

The idea of Christmas Hurdle glory would have been met with nothing but scorn at that point. It took a long time for Silver Streak to alter that impression despite his continued growth and improvement as a racehorse, which was on full display when he became Williams’ fourth Swinton winner in memorable fashion after swooping late to deny Chesterfield at Haydock in May 2018. That convinced his handler to target higher-grade events and a hugely consistent 2018-19 season followed.

Victory in the Welsh Champion Hurdle led into a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham before two more seconds in a pair of Grade 2s, the International Hurdle and Haydock’s Champion Hurdle Trial.

There was no doubting his never-say-die attitude but Silver Streak was earning a reputation as a nearly horse, and for a long time Williams was convinced he had no more than a very good handicapper at his disposal.

He says: “One thing I’ve learned over the years is there is a big gulf between being a very good handicapper and being a genuine Grade 2 horse, and then there’s a massive gulf to being competitive in Grade 1 championship races.

'I thought he was just a decent handicapper because he’d been beaten in those Grade 2s'Credit: Getty Images

“Sometimes, if you’ve got the right horse you can train them to become Grade 1 horses, but it’s a tough job because you either make or break them. Often it can finish them because they are competing against very good animals. I thought he was just a decent handicapper because he’d been beaten in those Grade 2s.”

All that changed after the 2019 Champion Hurdle. The fact he even lined up as an 80-1 afterthought competing for the country’s most coveted hurdling prize, though, was the result of a curious piece of misfortune. A month before the race there had been no intention of running at Cheltenham with sights instead lowered to the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton.

“There were some problems with the flu vaccinations that year having to be done six months in advance which meant we couldn’t go to the Kingwell,” Williams explains.

“I wouldn’t have even gone to the Champion, but he had to go somewhere. As is often the case with horses, you need things to swing your way and you learn on the job sometimes, that’s the reality of it.”

Despite racing on ground considered too boggy for his liking, Silver Streak outperformed all odds and expectations by finishing third, a neck behind Melon, albeit well beaten by the impressive and sadly ill-fated winner Espoir D’Allen.

“That was the moment when I thought I better train him like a Grade 1 horse and not a handicapper,” Williams says. “He had a good solid run on soft ground and I was very surprised and impressed. If you take the winner out we were beating the rest.”

Espoir D'Allen wins the 2019 Champion Hurdle with Silver Streak finishing a surprising thirdCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

“With a horse of a lesser quality you have to box clever, be scared of these other horses and you must know what you’re taking on. In a Grade 1 there is no hiding. If you want to train him like a Grade 1 horse you have to go for these big races.”

That is exactly what Williams has done since and his charge has flourished as a result. Although last year’s campaign was something of a damp squib with ground conditions never in his favour, the now eight-year-old returned in autumn 2020 primed for a historic campaign.

Silver Streak trotted a familiar path, landing a Listed hurdle at Kempton for the second consecutive year, after which all focus turned to Newcastle’s Fighting Fifth Hurdle where he would finally get his chance at a Grade 1 run on his ideal good ground conditions. Again, the routine was followed by the unusual.

A chaotic start saw Not So Sleepy unseat at the first and then jink right at the second, carrying out Silver Streak in the process and ending what appeared to be his best chance at landing one of the sport’s elite prizes before it had even begun in earnest.

Williams chuckles as the race is brought up, the memories of the madness all too fresh in the mind, but he remains philosophical about the highly unfortunate yet blameless situation. Indeed, he believes were it not for that incident there may not have been the Boxing Day bonanza to celebrate a month later.

Silver Streak is carried out by Not So Sleepy in the 2020 Fighting Fifth HurdleCredit: Andrew R Parker

“This is where that little bit of good fortune came in,” he says. “I would never have gone to Cheltenham [for the International Hurdle] if we’d finished the race at Newcastle but he needed a run. They took all the hurdles out there and essentially he’d only had a gallop so in some respects that run at Cheltenham maybe put us right for going to Kempton. Did the stars align? Maybe everything happens for a reason.”

Much of the credit for Silver Streak’s momentous day must lie at the feet of the shrewd Williams. He formulated an all-or-nothing plan to overhaul Nicky Henderson’s Champion Hurdle heroine Epatante, who had dished out a five- and 12-length beating to Silver Streak in their last two completed meetings.

“We’d been dropping him in, giving him a chance and things like that but I had no ambition to go and ride him to try and be second,” says Williams, who by then had watched Silver Streak finish in the top three in seven out of ten Graded races without winning since his Swinton success.

“We were pretty confident that the only horse we had to beat was Epatante. The other three rivals weren’t as good as us. You can’t go into those races and be worried and defensive. I said to Adam [Wedge, jockey] perhaps we should make plenty use of him because we were confident that our horse on that ground could go a good gallop.”

Silver Streak defeats Epatante to finally land Grade 1 glory at KemptonCredit: Edward Whitaker

He continues: “We thought we’d try to put the favourite under pressure and it worked very nicely. Very seldom does a plan like that come off, but we were lucky again because you could see the filly wasn’t herself.”

This was only Williams’ fourth Grade 1 win but he remained humble in victory, and celebrations were similarly muted as the day passed with neither trainer or owner present at the track due to coronavirus restrictions. Yet there was nothing that could detract from the immense feeling of pride.

“I was just very proud of the horse because he’s one that’s helped me out every step of the way, Williams says. “He’s never let me down in any way shape or form and never shirked a battle.

“We couldn’t have imagined that [when he was bought]. He’s owned by great people and the nice thing is they fully understand how lucky they are to have Silver Streak. I think that’s why it’s so special.“

From an aborted chasing career, to a missed flu vaccination and via a farcical Fighting Fifth, Silver Streak’s rise to the top has been anything but routine. Only eight, there could be plenty more big days ahead for the lovable grey, beginning with his third Champion Hurdle appearance at Cheltenham next week. Win or lose, it will do little to detract from his standing in the eyes of his biggest fans.

“I’d be delighted if we finished top four and if we were to finish top six and come home in one piece I’d be just as happy,” Williams said of the Champion Hurdle.

“Mr Fell is a farmer from Yorkshire, I’m a farmer from Wales and this grey horse has been the horse of a lifetime for us. We fully appreciate every second of every day that we’ve got him and we’ll always be very grateful to him.”

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