Grand National

Purple Silk runs for Deeping in the National

‘Purple Silk’ is one of the sporting legends from the Deepings, entered into the Aintree Grand National in 1964 by his trainer Mike Vergette. With odds of 100-6, it was said that the men of Market Deeping had put their weeks’ wages on the horse, who was pipped at the post by ‘Team Spirit.’

Later that year, Mike won the Gerry Feilden Hurdle at the Hennessy Gold Cup, Newbury, with ‘Golden Sailor’, a fiveyear-old ridden by David Nicholson.

Local residents were thrilled to see strings of beautiful horses being exercised over the gallops in local fields and to speculate the starting stands that stood in the field on the Bourne Road. Studying form took on a personal note when Mike Vergette’s horses were running!

Mike had had a brilliant career as a jockey. He won his first race when he was a 15-year-old apprentice jockey, going on to win 40 more races on the flat. Changing to National Hunt rules over jumps, he was a winner of 67 races, not only in the UK but in India, Denmark and Sweden.

The son of George and Dorothy Vergette of Towngate House, Mike was just 24 when he established his racing stables at Towngate where he employed six stable lads, one female, to look after around 20 horses in training. Each lad looked after three horses starting at 6.30a.m. to muck out and then ride each horse for its morning exercise. Then each horse was groomed and the lads had a well-earned rest until the stable’s evening routine began.

In 1973 Mike, speaking to Richard Grummit of the Stamford Mercury said, “To make a 20 horse stable pay, the owners had to be financially sound. Training fees, which are mostly to provide good hay and oats for feed, come to between £20 and £30 a week. When we send a horse in a trailer and box the cost is about £30 for one and £50 for two horses. Declaration fees also have to be paid and are £10 upwards. In fact, to run a horse in the Derby an owner has to pay £200 at each stage.”

At this time, Mike had a star horse named ‘Ashendene’, bought from John van Geest for £10,000. An easy horse to train, it loved racing and won six easily but having run at Newbury, returned home with a tendon injury and was unable to race for some time. Filly ‘Gin Fizz‘, had at this time already won three good races and would become a runner in the National. ‘I’ll do it miway’ was so named because of its difficult temperament and a tendency to throw off its riders. However, it responded to Mike’s quiet voice and patient expertise which gave the horses confidence. ‘Penzance’ was a promising hurdler in the stables. During his career as a trainer, Mike had 42 winners on the flat and 298 over the jumps.

Words Judy Stevens Research: Nancy Titman, Joy Baxter Photographs: Dorothea Price, Ian Baxter

The Crabbie’s Grand National Festival 2014 runs this year from April 9-11 th .