TRAINER
Mick Easterby has trained racehorses on the flat and over jumps for over 60 years and the word 'legend' has often been used as a description!
From humble beginnings, Mick initially worked for his Uncle Walter at Towton near Tadcaster, and then helped he his brother Peter when he set up at Great Habton. He first moved to Sheriff Hutton into a rented farm in 1955.
Back in 1961 Mick started out with a handful of moderate horses - and he had a novel way of exercising them. He'd unlock a gate, nip into a farmer's field, gallop his horses and nip out again before his unsuspecting neighbour had even wiped the sleep from his eyes. Not only that, but he claims to have done it for four years and was never once found out.
Mick's career went from strength to strength with thousands of winners and almost 900 individual winning racehorses having passed through the yard.
Amongst Mick's most famous winners are classic winning filly Mrs McArdy (1000 Guineas), Wiganthorpe (Gimcrack Stakes), Lochnager (Champion sprinter), Peterhof (Triumph Hurdle), Gentleman's Deal (Winter Derby) and most recently Hoof It (Stewards Cup) and Hoofalong (Scottish Sprint Cup).
Now Britain's oldest active racehorse trainer and longest serving licence holder, Mick has acquired a cult following with a reputation as a straight-talking down-to-earth Yorkshireman.
Mick has also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities, most notably from the annual point-to-point here at Sheriff Hutton in aid of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
Mick has trained 2585 winners in his career since 1961.