Robert Chugg, who died last week at the age of 79, was a leading amateur rider in the 1960s and 70s, and subsequently a successful breeder and trader of jumping stock.
Horses bred at his Worcestershire-based Little Lodge Farm in partnership with his wife Jackie became standard fare at leading sales of foals and stores on both sides of the Irish Sea, and their popularity was in part due to the genial Chugg, who his friend, the bloodstock agent David Minton said, was a master of the one-liner.
When showing stores to potential clients his stock phrase was "This one's unbeaten," and "this is another unbeaten one", which was factually correct, even though none had been broken in let alone set foot on a racecourse.
Chugg, who had ridden his first point-to-point winner in 1960 on a horse owned by his father Leonard, created his breeding business after selling his dairy herd, but he had become well known before then, primarily through his victories on Bright Willow, a leading pointer and hunter chaser owned and trained by Alan Cure. Ridden by Chugg, Bright Willow won the 1968 Lady Dudley Cup when it was run at Upton-upon-Severn, and the following year they landed the United Hunts Cup, which until 1974 was run at the Cheltenham Festival. In 1971 they were second in that race, before heading to Aintree where they won a vintage running of the Foxhunters' Chase, with horses of the calibre of Bullocks Horn and Credit Call behind. Both those beaten horses went on to win the Foxhunter double at Cheltenham and Aintree in subsequent seasons.
Other good horses Chugg rode included Sunarise – although he was beaten in the 1971 Players Final at Chepstow by Mighty Red, ridden by Chugg's brother John – and while Pat Tollit will always be known as the rider of Pensham, who won the 1972 Grand Marnier Trophy for the season's most successful pointer, Robert was on board the mare when she won her 11th race that year.
Turning to breeding and selling jumping stock, Chugg was to become a stalwart of the TBA's National Hunt committee. He and his wife enjoyed numerous successes in the sales ring, perhaps the best horse they bred being the mare Marello, who won 11 races for trainer Mary Reveley including two at Gr.2 level. More recently Guard Your Dreams, who won a Gr.2 hurdle at Cheltenham in December, and the Listed-winning chaser El Presente have been breeding successes, while Kateira – who could be a candidate for bumper honours at Aintree – made a winning debut earlier this month in the colours of Little Lodge Farm and Dan Skelton. Crystal Glory, who was sold by Chugg for €65,000 at Tattersalls Ireland's Derby Sale to the Doyle family of County Wexford's Monbeg Stables, finished second in Saturday's Gr.2 novices' hurdle at Haydock.
Minton added of Chugg: "He was the greatest company, a wonderful raconteur and an extraordinary character who was such fun. His one-liners were unique, and whenever he met me he would say 'How's your flow?'. He bred a lot of winners, and was probably as well known in Ireland as he was in Britain. It was hard not to like him."
Chugg leaves his widow Jackie, sons Richard and Tom and their wives Emma and Lara, and four grandchildren.