Racing trainer Mick Easterby still in fine form at 86 The Northern Echo, April 24, 2017
THERE'S no shortage of contenders for the title of most remarkable sporting figure in the North-East - but I'd put a few quid on the evergreen Mick Easterby to take some beating.
Michael William Easterby might be short of a few teeth these days but he remains in sparkling form as the country's oldest racehorse trainer at 86.
There he was, at Redcar's Easter Monday meeting last week, dancing a jig in the winner's enclosure after scoring a treble which followed a double at the seaside course the week before.
Easterby, who trains at Sheriff Hutton in North Yorkshire, is commonly referred to as a "right character". Rough and ready, he wouldn't look out of place alongside Worzel Gummidge, but he's been banging out winners for donkeys years. Indeed, his first big winner came 50 years ago this year when Boismoss won the Cesarewitch at Newmarket, and other highlights were Mrs McArdy taking the 1977 1,000 Guineas, and champion sprinter Lochnager carrying all before him in 1976.
"I don't go to bed 'til one in the morning and I'm up before six. I'm like a spring chicken," he told me at Redcar. "And I 'ave a drink every night in The Highwayman in Sheriff Hutton. It's a grand place - make sure you give them a write-up."
The Highwayman's landlady Lisa Rushworth was duly grateful for the mention, saying: "Oh, Mick's a great character. He's a local celebrity really and he knows his horses - there's been a few celebrations in here over the years."
Mick announced his retirement four years ago but that seems to have been long forgotten. I wouldn't mind betting that they'll still be toasting his winners in The Highwayman when he hits 90.
