Mick Easterby: Why a horse-racing legend is hosting a point-to-point in aid of Yorkshire Air Ambulance

Mick Easterby, who has held a trainer’s licence for 64 years, said while the two and three-mile courses at his farm and stables near Sheriff Hutton, north of York, attracted crowds to the annual event as they were the region’s best, it was vital to help the independent charity raise the £19,000 a day it needed to keep its two helicopters operating.

The Classic winning trainer said he hoped the event, to be held next Sunday (Jan 12), would see more than £250,000 having been raised for Yorkshire Air Ambulance, which has helicopters based at Nostell Priory, near Wakefield and at RAF Topcliffe, near Thirsk, and involved a team of 70 volunteers to stage.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to everyone coming and giving me a hand. I couldn’t have done it without all the charity workers.

"The Yorkshire Air Ambulance is so important, it saves so many lives. I have a daughter who had a smash out hunting and the Yorkshire Air Ambulance saved her, so I thought I better do something about it.”

In 2014, his daughter, Cherry Coward, while “hunting in the middle of nowhere” suffered a broken vertebrae and cracked ribs” and needed the services of the air ambulance.

The accident left her with two rods and 12 screws in her back, but the family are convinced it could have turned out worse if she had to go to hospital by road ambulance.

The incident came five years after Easterby’s granddaughter Jacqueline Coward was airlifted to hospital after suffering a head injury in a heavy fall at Catterick racecourse.

In September, another of his granddaughters, Joanna Mason, who started out on the point-to-point field while taking Flat rides as an amateur, spoke of her pride after riding her 100th winner for him.

But in 2015, Mason was piloting Comedinewithme at Hurworth point-to-point, when the mare buckled on landing, throwing her to the ground. X-rays revealed she had broken her back in two places: fractured her T8 and crushed her T9 vertebrae.

Dubbed ‘Mr Versatile’, Easterby, who has had a joint trainer’s licence with his son since 2021, said: "We’ve raised well over £200,000 so far and we’d like to get the total to £250,000, so please come and join us. It’s a fantastic charity and a lifeline for so many people. We’d like to get as many people to come along as possible.

"It’s a marvellous day out. People come from all over. We’ll have a marquee with a cash-only bar and food and stall and some good racing."

Easterby, whose career has seen him send out more than 2,500 winners, will mark his 94th birthday in March. He said while the point-to-point event counted among his annual highlights, he continued to “enjoy every minute” of his work.

When asked if being a horseracing trainer would be something that he would ever give up, he said: “Hopefully not. I have some wonderful helpers and my son takes a big part. I’m out every day, I can’t stop myself.”

He said after spending hours every day with the horses he relished having two pints every night, as he had done for the last 50 years. "If you enjoy something you don’t call it work. How awful for people who go to work and not enjoy it. It must be a terrible existence. I can’t wait to get to work every day.”

The point-to-point course he has created features very soft portable fences and the winning post is in a chute off the bend that turns into a straight. The three-mile course has two ditches and seven fences, and in all there are 18 jumps in each race.

Easterby said: “It’ll be decent ground with quite a lot of grass on it. It’s quite a nice attractive course - the best course in Yorkshire. It’s well maintained. What you have to do if you enjoy doing something is you always make a good job of it. It’s when you aren’t interested in doing it that it doesn’t work.”

He added while the left-handed course suited some horses better than others, it would not make any difference to the outcome of the races, which start at 11.45am. He said: “Some horses like going right and some like going left. There’s plenty of room.”

Christine Drury, chair of the Sheriff Hutton Point-to-Point Committee said: “Rural communities like ours are reliant on services like this and when you see the helicopter flying down and you know there is help coming, it’s truly amazing. I’d like to thank the Point to Point Club Comittee and all our supporters and sponsors, for again making the fundraising possible."

Entry is £15 per person and free for under-16s. Free parking.