There have been plenty of reasons to celebrate for Carlisle racehorse trainer Tristan Davidson over the past few months.

Davidson hit the headlines in late June when he claimed a career-first double at Cartmel.

And he continued that good form at Carlisle Racecourse’s Ladies night last Monday with jockey Rachel Richardson guiding Island Song and Rubenesque home for a double.

“Yeah, I’m flying, absolutely flying,” admits Davidson. “Long may it last.”

Davidson proved to be an enormously popular winner at Carlisle as first Island Song, and then Rubenesque, were roared to victory at the Durdar Road venue, much to the delight of the vocal home crowd.

With both horses owned by Carlisle businessmen Ben Greenslade and David McCrone, who are also the owners of the “House of Vodka” bar in Botchergate, Davidson admits the double had felt like “a bit of a fairlytale”.

“It was unreal. When the first one won, it was great, to have won on my local track,” Davidson says.

“And after the second, it [the atmosphere] felt like Cheltenham. I have never seen that many people around the parade ring.

“Both horses are owned by Carlisle lads, too. It was fantastic.

“The double at Cartmel was good but, on your local track, it’s a bit of a fairytale, really.”

That success came after Davidson’s first double in south Cumbria – which he admits even caught him by surprise.

On that occasion, he claimed his first Cartmel winner with Rubenesque in the opening Harrogate Spring Water Maiden Hurdle before Justatenner did the business in the E-Catering Handicap Hurdle.

“With Rubenesque, I knew she was a good mare, but I thought there would be a couple in the hut that were too good for her, just because she had only had one hurdle race before that,” Davidson admits.

“I thought, if she finishes third, I’ll be happy. But she surprised us.

“Then, Justatenner had a really bad fall at Hexham and kind of lost his confidence a bit.

“We did loads of schooling and Tim Reed helped me, he has been a real help. The main thing with him was to get him round. He surprised us, to be honest.”

But when Davidson is not training horses, and hoping to deliver winners on the track, he is, instead, delivering dairy – in his other job as a milkman.

“I love racing. It isn’t really a job to me because I love it that much,” Davidson enthuses.

“The old milk round means there is money coming in every week, but it is slowly deteriorating.

“It will be good to think, if that goes, I can make a career of the racing. But with racing, there is a lot of ups and downs.”

Despite his current form, Davidson knows how quickly fortunes can change in horse racing.

He says: “It can which is why you need good owners and good horses.”

Davidson himself had been a leading point-to-point rider for many seasons.

“I have been an amateur jockey and did point-to-point. I rode more than 100 winners point-to-pointing,” he confirms.

Work is also ongoing to enhance Irthington-based Davidson’s stables.

“Every time we get a bit of money, we just do something – whether it’s putting another shed up or a horse walk,” he says. “Every time we get a little bit more, we just try to improve the stables.”

Maintaining a full stable of horses is a constant task throughout the year, though.

“These horses get one-to-one attention. I think that might be what is putting them ahead of the rest at the moment,” Davidson, who thanked his wife Emma, vet Andrew Miller and blacksmith Kenny Little for their support, suggests.

“I wish I got looked after like they do! The only thing is the handicapper is going to catch-up with them at some time, I know that. I think the owners know that, too.”