Horses to double Easterby's hopes (From Gazette & Herald)

Horses to double Easterby's hopes

Tim Easterby, firing in winners left, right and centre at present, is hoping to hit the bull's eye at Royal Ascot at York on Saturday.

The Great Habton trainer is aiming to be doubly-represented in the £250,000 Golden Jubilee Stakes by Somnus, the reigning champion sprinter, and Fayr Jag, winner of this Group One race 12 months ago when it was held at his Berkshire home.

The stablemates, talented as they are, require different ground conditions to be at their very best, with Somnus preferring easy going and Fayr Jag relishing fast ground, so what the weather does between now and Saturday is uppermost in Easterby's mind.

With the threat of the ground easing as the week wears on, Easterby saddled Fayr Jag in the King's Stand Stakes on Tuesday's opening day of the meeting, slightly fearful that the ground might have gone against him by Saturday.

His ploy went unrewarded, but Fayr Jag still ran a cracking race to finish just behind the placed horses over five furlongs on good-to-firm ground.

Easterby, simply, will be looking for safe ground for Somnus. "He doesn't have to have it soft, but he wouldn't like it firm," said Tim as he eagerly prepared to pitch his stablestar into the Golden Jubilee line up. "He'll be declared for the race and we'll wait until an hour before to make a final decision if we have to. If we're not happy," he explained, "we can always pull him out and take him home - he hasn't got far to go!"

Somnus, a dual Group One winner last season in France, ran a blinder to finish fourth in the Duke Of York Stakes on Knavesmire last month, producing a storming late run inside the final furlong to be beaten marginally less than two lengths by the winner, The Kiddykid.

Granted favourable conditions on Saturday, Somnus will carry big hopes of landing a local victory for his owner-breeder, Lady Caroline Legard and her partners, Sir Tatton Sykes and Roger Sidebottom.

But let's not forget Fayr Jag. As the gutsy winner of the race last season, he also shared a Royal Ascot triumph in 2003 when dead-heating in the Wokingham Handicap, so he knows what it takes to win at this meeting.

For Tim Easterby, either of them hitting the post in front would do quite nicely.

Richard Fahey faces an anxious wait to see whether he will have one or more runners in Saturday's Wokingham Handicap.

The Malton trainer will be represented by Beverley winner Philharmonic, but he is also hoping to run Mutawaffer and Fonthill Road. The last two, however, are currently below the safety limit for this race and, unless there are withdrawals among the top 20 horses in the list, both horses could miss out.

Fahey said: "I do have an option with Mutawaffer, which is to run him in the Buckingham Palace Stakes on Thursday. That is what we're aiming to do, and if he then gets in the Wokingham we'll run him again, provided he's okay, of course."

Robert Winston, who is currently riding winners galore, could be worth following on Saturday. He is set to partner either Welsh Emperor or Chookie Heiton in the Wokingham, and also the speedy Masta Plasta, a runaway winner at Newcastle, in the Windsor Castle Stakes.

Zuhair, one of the best-known sprint handicappers in the country, and a horse with a race named after him at Goodwood, where he has such a wonderful record, was fatally injured last week on the gallops of his Malton trainer Richard Fahey.

The 12-year-old gelding, who only joined Fahey this season after enjoying semi-retirement following a successful career with David Nicholls, was doing routine exercise, leading the two-year-olds, when he broke a joint and had to be put down.

"He was the grandest oldest horse, a real pleasure to have around, and to lose him like that was heartbreaking. I am absolutely gutted," said Fahey.

He immediately notified owner Trisha Farr, and also previous trainer Nicholls, to tell them the bad news.

"That's the most difficult call I've ever to make to an owner," said Fahey. "It was only right and proper that 'Dandy' should be told as he had done so well with the horse."

Winner of 10 races and more than £135,000 in prize money, Zuhair is best known for his exploits at Goodwood where he won six times and captured the five-furlongs handicap, now renamed the Zuhair Stakes, four times in succession.

Brian Ellison is considering lodging an appeal over the £2,000 fine he picked up at Ripon last Saturday over the running of stable stalwart Everest, who finished less than six lengths behind in the one-mile handicap.

The stewards felt that the horse had been dropped out too far in the early stages and tenderly handled in the last two furlongs, and had not run on its merits. Apart from fining Ellison, they also suspended jockey Royston Ffrench for 14 days and slapped a 40-day ban on Everest.

Ellison was fuming at the outcome. The Norton trainer said; "It's no secret how this horse is ridden. He's always dropped out and ridden from behind. But he hated the firm ground and was never travelling on it, anyone could see that. But it seemed like the stewards and I weren't watching the same race."

Ellison added: "All Royston was guilty of was not giving the horse a good hiding. If he had hit him, he would probably have finished a length closer. I was satisfied with Royston's ride, because the horse clearly wasn't acting on the ground, and at least I've still got a (sound) horse to train."

Ellison claims that owner Henry Rix had backed Everest. "After he drifted out to 12-1, Henry had £500 on him. I told the stewards that, but they didn't seem interested."

Spare a thought for Tom Eaves, who, having just come out of his apprenticeship, and now facing the precarious challenge of making a name for himself in the senior ranks, has been hit by an injury, which threatens to keep him on the sidelines during the height of the summer programme.

Eaves broke his arm in an accident while putting a horse through the stalls at Brian Ellison's Norton yard last week and is looking at being out of action for six weeks.

It is appalling luck for the talented young rider, who has created a good impression during the last 18 months and lost his apprentices' allowance earlier this season.

Here's wishing Tom the speediest possible recovery.

Best wishes are also sent to another local rider, sidelined with injury. Nikki Wilson took a very heavy fall in the Ladies' Derby at Ripon last week when her mount, Stallone, trained near York by her husband Noel, appeared to strike the heels of another runner and come to grief leaving the back straight.

Nikki, who was knocked unconscious but had come round before she left the course, was airlifted to South Tees Hospital, where she is making steady progress.

Updated: 15:37 Wednesday, June 15, 2005