Maverick Mick just itching to get on with the job
Racing Post
16 March 2001
RANCHERS in America coined the term maverick to describe calves who are either swift or elusive enough to escape being branded.
Time has seen the phrase broadened to encompass any independent or unorthodox individual who stands apart from the herd. So, as racing continues in limbo following the outbreak of foot and mouth disease, step forward Michael William Easterby.
Here is a man who has ploughed his own furrow in life, irrespective of what others think, and left an impression on racing as much for his outspoken nature and eccentricity as his considerable achievements on the racecourse.
Regulars on the northern circuit are well used to seeing Easterby rail against officialdom, often for abandoning a meeting prematurely or, just occasionally, for ruling that one of his runners could have been given a more vigorous ride.
Such outbursts are manna from heaven for reporters - who have come to expect the unexpected from him - but Easterby's latest stand against authority sees him branded in some quarters as a traitor to the very countryside which moulded him.
As one of the biggest crises to hit racing in more than 30 years tightened its grip last week, Easterby broke new and potentially unpopular ground with his vehement opposition to the decision to suspend racing during the foot and mouth outbreak.
While almost every other prominent figure in the sport echoed the familiar mantra of short-term pain for long-term gain, he swam against the tide by forming what many saw as an unholy trinity with John McCririck and Bookmakers' Committee chairman Warwick Bartlett in condemning the suspension out of hand. But Easterby is no talking head in need of racing to continue to feed his income and ego, nor is he a hired gun paid to promote the continued welfare of Britain's betting shops. On the contrary, Easterby is a stockman from the peak of his cap to the tips of his toes, with as much of the North Yorkshire landscape as the eye can see under his care and 300 head of cattle stationed not a mile from his Sheriff Hutton yard.
With a disinfected boot in both camps, he stands in a better position than most who have been quick to volunteer off-the-cuff opinions of late, and despite his extensive farming interests, he continues to insist that racing should not have been suspended.
He says: "The fact is that people are afraid of their own shadows nowadays and, although some of them mean well, that doesn't mean they should dictate what happens to the whole racing industry."
Some of his logic may be a shade fuzzy, but Easterby is in no mood to backtrack and his views have slowly but surely gained support as the debate over whether racing should continue to batten down the hatches rages on. He says: "Believe me, I would hate to see racing responsible for helping spread this disease, but I'm dead against racing shutting down when other sports who put animals at a much bigger risk carry on as normal. "I can't remember that much about the 1967 outbreak, but I do know the Ministry of Agriculture said that stopping racing then had next-to-no impact in helping control the problem and they're saying exactly the same again now."
Surprisingly, in view of the general reaction to recent events, Easterby reports that most of his owners - including several from farming backgrounds - support his stand for a return to racing at certain tracks, provided the right measures are in place for horses and racegoers.
How many others within racing break ranks to voice similar views this week will be fascinating to see, but Easterby is itching to return to business as usual.
"Cheltenham won't be the same without the Irish and I'd love to see them there, but if they can't travel then so be it. I'm certain racing would pose next to no threat to farming provided the proper precautions are in place, so let's take notice of what the experts say and get on with the job," he says.
Foot and mouth aside, Easterby continues to run one of the most consistently successful dual-purpose yards in Britain in his own inimitable fashion.
If Cheltenham does go ahead, he plans to be represented by the progressive dual Wetherby winner Meadowbank. He describes his National Hunt Chase candidate as "a beautiful horse".
In addition, Easterby has also been making hay on the all-weather of late, thanks to the prolific Silver Socks. The much-improved grey remains on the market despite the fact that his trainer placed an advert in this paper last month with the alluring headline, "Can you hear the sound of opportunity knocking?"
No-one did, or at least not at the asking price, but, having taken his record in February to five wins from six starts on the last day before racing was suspended at Wolverhampton, Silver Socks is spending his enforced break with an ambitious campaign being mapped out for him.
"He's bouncing at home and I reckon he can beat the record of ten handicaps in a season when racing starts up again," booms his owner-trainer, before swiftly adding that the `For Sale' sign still hangs above the Petong gelding's box.
How much it will take to secure the latest Sheriff Hutton moneyspinner is a matter to be discussed only with serious bidders, but with racing at such a low ebb, Easterby refuses to succumb to the mood of doom and gloom.
"With all the jumpers ready to run again and 60 horses to get ready for the Flat season I've no time for moping around," he says. "I've been training horses longer than most and even after all this time I still wake up with a tingle every morning wondering whether I can land a little touch."
For his sake, and for racing's, let us hope the maverick is running loose again soon-as well as safely.
