Popular stayer Double Trigger has died

Popular English stayer Double Trigger has died at the age of 28.

Trained by Mark Johnston, Double Trigger won 14 of his 29 races including the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 1995.

He also won three Goodwood Cups and three Doncaster Cups.

Double Trigger started favourite in the 1995 Melbourne Cup won by Doriemus, finishing unplaced on the heavy ground.

“Double Trigger died yesterday in his paddock at John and Sarah Haydon’s Clarendon Farm in Wiltshire. He was 28 years and 11 months old. A great age for a thoroughbred horse,” Johnston said.

“It is only a few weeks since videos were distributed on social media of him cantering around the paddock and cavorting like a young thing. He was in rude health till the end. What a way to go.

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“It seems that, no matter what champions I trained or might be lucky enough to train in future, I will always be remembered more for having trained Double Trigger than for anything else. He captured the public’s imagination like no other animal that I have been associated with, and rightly so.”

Jason Weaver was on board for 10 of his wins, including the Gold Cup.

“He lived to a really good age and enjoyed a great life,” said Weaver.

“He was such a great horse. We thought he was a playboy at home, always bucking and kicking and we had no idea how good he was going to be.

“He turned into one of those remarkable horses like Yeats, Stradivarius and Persian Punch – they get people excited about going to the races.

“He was just remarkable. There’s a statue of him at Doncaster now and he has a bar named after him – not many get that.

“You are lucky to come across a horse like him in your career. He was lazy, but once he got going he didn’t stop.”