Head and shoulders above his rivals in the paddock for the Winter Derby and a neck ahead of Grand Passion at the line, Gentleman's Deal gave Paul Mulrennan his first Group winner and trainer Mick Easterby his first winner here with a rare runner.
If that last statement sounds faintly ridiculous, as Easterby will be 76 later this week and has been training from Sheriff Hutton, North Yorkshire for what seems like an eternity, you have to believe his claims when he says: 'I had never even heard of the place until now.'
Easterby, whose finest hour came when sending out Mrs McArdy to win the 1977 1,000 Guineas, has long been known by the punters as 'Spitting Mick', but now he might as well have been renamed 'Kissing Mick' as he grabbed all and sundry, including Mulrennan for a smacker. He asked me for a kiss, but then thought the better of it.
Gentleman's Deal, a huge horse, standing 17.2 hands, was better able to handle what Mulrennan described as 'a rough race' than some of his smaller rivals, notably Cusoon, who was squeezed out running down the hill. Always prominent as the field dawdled early, the big horse was always pulling out just enough to hold off the thrusts of Blue Bajan against the rail, then the late dash of Grand Passion.
This 10-furlong Group Three race looks the ideal springboard for a crack at Saturday's Lincoln, run this year over the straight mile at Newcastle. Gentleman's Deal looks positively thrown in off a mark of 93, including his 5lb penalty for winning here, as his all-weather rating has surged to 108 this season on the back of wins at Southwell (twice) and Kempton. Given luck with the draw, he will be devilishly hard to beat.
But before the trip to Gosforth Park, there may be something else on the agenda for the son of the 1997 1,000 Guineas winner Sleepytime. As his trainer explained, Gentleman's Deal went to stud last year, covering 50 mares, and there are 40 waiting for him this season. 'I might even give him a jump in the morning,' Easterby said, only half jokingly. He certainly fits his jockey's description of him as 'a machine' in more ways than one.
It appears that, unlike the stud failure George Washington, he does not fire blanks and he has the sort of temperament that can cope with the racecourse and the breeding shed. That is a true rarity in a stallion, who, owner Stephen Curtis and trainer agree, has extraordinarily placid manners.
There is a certain amount of frivolity in the winners' enclosure after this supposedly dour old Yorkshireman has trained a big winner, but when all the joshing, the kissing and the back-slapping is done, Easterby is a serious man of horses.
'My former assistant Robin O'Ryan was the one who recommended Gentleman's Deal to me. He said he thought he had seen a horse that I would be able to train. Nobody else wanted him because of his physical problems.' So Easterby bought for 26,000gns a horse who had originally been purchased as a yearling for 460,000gns and put into training as a two-year-old with Ed Dunlop. 'I vetted him myself and saw what was wrong,' he said, adding without any side, but a good deal of pride: 'That's my genius.'
