THE poignancy of Classic Seniority's victory at York today was hard to ignore.

This June meeting at the Knavesmire is synonymous with fundraising for Macmillan cancer care.

The joint owner of Classic Seniority, Derek Woodall, a retired printer from Strensall, was unable to attend because he has "only weeks to live".

His brother Stephen, who is also the joint owner of the horse, took home the Jigsaw Sports Branding Handicap trophy on behalf of the family.

Stillington-based trainer Marjorie Fife dedicated the win to the absent Mr Woodall, saying: "We really wanted to win this race because Derek could not be here. He is not very well and he has only got weeks to live. To get this winner at York means a lot to the family. He used to come racing here as a boy."

Tomorrow is, officially, Macmillian Charity Day at the racecourse but thousands of pounds were generously dropped into the collection buckets today.

The afternoon began with a massive upset - Angel Meadow winning the Mel Brittain EBF Novice Stakes at odds of 66-1.

Trained by Micky Hammond at Middleham, the two-year-old was making her racecourse debut in the five-furlong sprint and beat joint favourite Dundunah in a photo finish.

"We have only got five two-year-olds and that was our first runner of the season," said Hammond. "She ran a little bit green but has a willing attitude."

It was a bad start for punters but there were still plenty of smiles around thanks to the improvement in the weather.

For most of the morning and most of the night, York had been hit by showers yet, mercifully, the clouds parted by lunchtime and shirt sleeves were again in order, at least until racing was finished.

The second race, the 888sport.com Stakes, brought victory for the David O'Meara trained Pandora - but it could so easily have been a different story for the four-year-old filly.

Pandora, ridden by Philip Makin, lost four lengths on the rest of the field after coming out of the stalls late, but got back into the contest to tackle long-time leader and stablemate Maraakib in the final 50 yards.

"It looked a bit of a disaster at the start," admitted Upper Helmsley-based O'Meara. "She wore the hood for the first time and I don't know if that put her to sleep completely."

The third race of the afternoon was York's only selling stakes of the summer and led to a great deal of post-race interest in winning horse Melaniemillie, trained in Malton by Ollie Pears.

Several high-profile bidders including David Easterby joined the chase for the two-year-old who had won by three and a half lengths at a price of 7-2 ahead of 33-1 shot Smiley Riley.

Butcher John Sissons of Selby eventually bought his horse "back in" for £21,000, however - a full £15,000 more than the starting price.

After Classic Seniority - ridden by James Sullivan - won the fourth race, there was more North Yorkshire success in the feature race of the afternoon when Richard Fahey's Mayfair Lady made all to win the EBF Breeders Series Fillies Handicap.

The fifth race on the card, The Rush Hair York opening 18th June Stakes, was won by top weight Shrewd at odds of 12-1. A shrewd bet indeed.

The win, however, was overshadowed by an incident which led to one of his rivals, Vilman, having to be put down. The four-year-old bay gelding, trained by Simon West in Middleham, was in contention going into the final furlong but broke a leg and was pulled up by jockey Kieren Fallon.

The final race of the afternoon, the Ripleycollection.com Apprentice Stakes saw the Newmarket-trained Viserion hold off the challenge of Malton trainer Brian Ellison's I Am Not Here.