Easterby leads the way for Yorkshire trainers

Maven continued trainer Tim Easterby’s tremendous form when taking the Sky Bet Mobile EBF Fillies’ Handicap at York.

The four-year-old filly was the stable’s 13th winner in the last fortnight as she stormed past Hippy Hippy Shake to win by two-and-a-half lengths at 10-1.

“She’s getting better and she loves this fast ground. We’ll see if there is something for her at the August meeting back here,” said Easterby.

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Van Ellis (8-1) landed the Sky Bet Dash Handicap when dropping down to six furlongs for the first time since his debut in April.

Challenging for the lead over a furlong out, Mark Johnston’s three-year-old wandered from the centre of the course towards the stands side, but had enough in the locker to score by a length-and-a-quarter from Gramercy.

Johnston became the seventh consecutive yet different Yorkshire handler to win the race.

Add in four other North Yorkshire-trained winners (Kevin Ryan, Easterby, David O’Meara, George Moore) over the £200,000 card and it was a good penultimate day of the Yorkshire Racing Summer Festival for the home county. Over 38,000 racegoers enjoyed the day on Knavesmire.

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Ryan saddled his first winner for Qatar Racing Limited when Burning Blaze (11-4 co-favourite) got off the mark at the second attempt in the Sky Sports Median Auction Maiden Stakes.

The O’Meara-trained Herostatus (16-1) got up close home under a confident ride by Danny Tudhope to collar Eagle Rock by a neck in the Sky Bet Mobile For iPad Handicap.

PJ McDonald steered Lady Poppy (5-1) to a cosy length-and-a-half victory in the Sky Bet Mobile For iPhone Nursery for Middleham trainer Moore.

Roger Varian is set to keep Sri Putra to just below the top level after his stable stalwart gained a valuable triumph in the feature race, the Group Two Sky Bet York Stakes.

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A regular in Group Ones without success, the six-year-old won for just the seventh time in 28 starts and showed that he has not lost his appetite for racing.

The Newmarket trainer put in Pekan Star as a pacemaker and equipped Sri Putra (12-1) with blinkers and a hood.

The plan worked as the entire defeated Afsare by a hard-fought neck in the hands of Neil Callan.

“I’d like to plan an international campaign for him going into the autumn. Where that will take us we’ll see,” said Varian.

“We’ve got a lot of options around this trip.”