Emotional win for the Easterby family at York Racecourse (From York Press)

Emotional win for the Easterby family at York Racecourse

10:57am Saturday 13th October 2012 in Sport

NO POPPY was an emotional winner for Great Habton trainer Tim Easterby in the feature Acorn Web Offset Stakes at York Racecourse.

The four-year-old, ridden by claimer Adam Carter, ran in the colours of Easterby’s late mother Marjorie, who died last month.

Avoiding the stands rail was crucial to No Poppy’s 11-1 success in the £18,000 contest over a mile.

Suits Me, piloted by Jamie Spencer, had been driven to lead early on but saw his chances sink when the jockey, along with some of his experienced colleagues, crossed over to the rail and onto what appeared to be less advantageous ground.

On instructions from Easterby, however, No Poppy sat central and was delivered inside the final furlong to beat Credit Swap by a length and a quarter.

The victory saw Easterby tie with Newmarket-based William Haggas at the summit of the top trainer championship – both having enjoyed eight winners at York over the season to date.

Easterby said: “It was a great ride by Adam. I told him not to go to the rail. I didn’t think he needed to be there.

“I said, ‘ride her with a lot of confidence’. She doesn’t like to be in front too long but she loves the ground and has improved a lot.

“I’m not sure if we’ll put her away now – this has been a good year for her. Whether we get into the Lincoln (at Doncaster in March), I don’t know, but we’ll probably have a look at something like that next year.

“It was emotional – fantastic,” he added.

It was 5lb claimer Carter’s fourth win on No Poppy this season and his first victory at York.

Easterby was denied a second success, which would have taken him into the outright lead in the trainer race, when Deepsand was a length and a half adrift of Educate (16-1).

The three-year-old, trained by Ismail Mohammed and ridden by Spencer, took the mile-and-a-quarter Parsonage Hotel and Spa Stakes.

Malton trainer Richard Fahey, who had won the opening race with Polski Max, secured a double in the final race of the card as Lexington Bay (5-1), under apprentice Nick Slatter, triumphed in the Future Cleaning Services Gentleman Amateur Riders’ Stakes.

Overnight rain on Thursday night saw the ground labelled heavy and had cut a swathe through the card – with 32 non-runners over the seven races.

The Garbutt & Elliott Conditions Stakes, a £15,000 contest over a mile and a quarter, was reduced to a field of just four, with Godolphin’s Prince Siegfried (5-2 jt-fav), trained by Saeed bin Suroor and ridden by Mickael Barzalona, a length-and-a-quarter victor over Mijhaar.

Elsewhere, Shrimpton (7-2) was an easy winner of the Brittains EBF Maiden Stakes over five furlongs for former England and Southampton footballer-turned-trainer Mick Channon.

Soviet Rock (9-2) battled back strongly to win the Download The Free Racing Plus App Median Auction Maiden Stakes.

The Andrew Balding-trained juvenile, ridden by Jimmy Fortune, jumped out sharply in the one-mile contest but looked to have to settle for second best when edging left and handing over the running to Esteaming.

But Soviet Rock found a new gear in the final furlong, coming out a length and a quarter on top of the 3-1 joint-favourite.