Legendary racing trainer Mick Easterby issues appeal for review following Sheriff Hutton Point to Point row
The country’s longest serving racing trainer has called for a review of the rescheduling of point-to-point meetings after having to pay £500 to the organisers of an event being staged the following day more than 110 miles away.
Mick Easterby said he had been left dismayed after the Yorkshire Area Point to Point, which raises funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA), saw about half its normal turnout last Saturday and furious over the process of rearranging the event which had been cancelled on Sunday, January 12 due to frozen ground.
With over £200,000 having already been raised and donated to YAA, organisers were hoping to top the quarter of a million pound mark this year. However, Mr Easterby, who will be 94 next month, said last Saturday’s event at his Sheriff Hutton farm saw about half its normal turnout, despite the efforts of dozens of volunteers and it being blessed by bright sunshine on a glorious midwinter day. He said the event had been rearranged for January 19, with licences in place, but had an objection from the Jedforest Point to Point in the Scottish Borders, some 155 miles away, that was being held that day.
He said: “We had to go to arbitration with the Point to Point Secretaries Association (PPSA), but sadly we were not supported. Jedforest felt they wouldn’t get the entries, so we offered a solution for that. They were also concerned about getting jockeys, which we didn’t think was a concern because there are some very good jockeys in the North.
“They had a race programme for grass roots riders, people who have not ridden more than 20 winners in a point to point, so you can have a lot of experience and not have ridden 20 winners in a point to point, so it would have provided more opportunities both for people in the North and in Yorkshire.”
Mr Easterby had previously been offered January 25, before being told the Percy Hunt Point to Point, which was due to race on January 26 at Alnwick, 113 miles away, would object.
He said: “Saturday’s aren’t great for us. It’s much harder to get volunteers. We are very lucky that in the interests of countryside harmony both the Sinnington and Middleton hunts changed their meets from a potential clash with our rearranged meeting to the day before it, so that we could get supporters and race-goers here.”
Others attending the event highlighted how the rescheduled race clashed with one of the last days of the pheasant, partridge and duck shooting season.
Mr Easterby said: “Unfortunately we haven’t got the crowd here to raise money for the air ambulance. The people who are on the committee of another point to point can do what they want, they can tell us not to run, it’s ludicrous. The rules are off the rocker. I had to give £500 to the Percy Hunt to let me have it on and for them not to object. I have never heard anything like it in my life.
“It’s a process that needs reviewing. There were 91 runners at the Jedforest last week and they had a great meeting. I don’t think if we had raced it would have been an issue. Don’t they understand we are doing this for the air ambulance? If anyone fell out hunting, the first thing they’d do is ring the air ambulance. I am very disappointed.”
Paul Miller, chief executive of the Point to Point Association (PPSA), said a suitable solution had been reached, with “everyone coming together to put the good of the sport ahead of personal interests”. He said said Ilona Barnett, the PPSA chair, had faced “considerable criticism” over the rescheduling decision.
Mr Miller said: “A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to make the new date happen. Unfortunately, there was a lot of misinformation put out over the weekend by various parties on social media which didn’t help, creating a lot of confusion and causing emotions to run high.”
The six-race meeting saw Mr Easterby’s daughter, Susan Mason and her husband Ian's homebred Red Opium who was steered home by Rosie Howarth, win the first race of the day by one length ahead of Conqueredalofeurope and Felix Foster. Howarth took the day's riding honours by completing a double when guiding another Cherry Coward inmate, the admirably consistent Ballydonagh Boy to victory in the Labiana Life Sciences Ladies Open, the gelding's tenth win between the flags. The highest rated winner of the day was Camdonian in the Labiana Life Sciences Mens Open for Jack Teal's Malton stable.
The next meeting in the Yorkshire Area season is the York and Ainsty With West Of Yore fixture at Askham Bryan College, near York, tomorrow, with the first race due off at 1pm.
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