IN 1794 the British and French fleets met in the first encounter of the French Revolutionary Wars and the battle has always been remembered as ‘The Glorious First of June’.

Perhaps, in the future, anyone writing the history of Ryedale racing might use the same soubriquet, for, last Saturday, local stables won no fewer than 11 races on racecourses up and down the country, from Surrey to Scotland.

A 25-1 outsider, Arctic Feeling, ridden by Jimmy Quinn, won the final race at Epsom Downs on Derby Day for Richard Fahey’s Musley Bank stables – repeating the success a day earlier, again in the last race, of Freddie Tylicki on Heaven’s Gift. Later, the same evening, Mick Easterby was successful at neighbouring Lingfield Park with City Ground, ridden by Serena Brotherton, in the Amateur Riders Handicap.

Doncaster staged a meeting with several really competitive races and the South Yorkshire track attracted such top riders as Tom Queally. Kieren Fallon and Paul Hanagan.

Twice champion jockey Hanagan always seems to enjoy returning to the north and finished the afternoon with a hat-trick of wins. He scored on Swinging Sultan for Saltburn trainer Keith Rieveley and on Elkaayed for his retainer owner Hamdan Al Maktoum. But perhaps the best of his wins was in one of the track’s feature races, the Ladbrokes Handicap, for Norton trainer Julie Camacho, on Diescentric.

There were 15 runners for this straight seven-furlong contest and Hanagan was content to keep Diescentric near the rear but then produced a fine turn of foot in the last two furlongs to sweep into the lead and win by one-and-a-quarter lengths.

Two races later, Jason Hart won a handicap, run over the St Leger course, on Mr Snoozy for Tim Walford.

North of the border, at Musselburgh, the trainer/jockey partnership of David O’Meara and David Nolan picked up the last two races with Classic Colori and Powerful Presence.

Newcastle’s evening card produced five wins for local yards. Mick Easterby had double success with Day Of The Eagle, ridden by Graham Gibbons, and Aetna (Paul Mulrennan) whilst his nephew Tim won with Arc Light (Duran Fentiman). Barry McHugh gained a victory for Richard Fahey while the Malcolm Jefferson trained Enchanted Garden, ridden by Freddie Tylicki completed a most thrilling day for our training establishments.

 

• THE North Yorkshire trained Libertarian only just failed in his bid to become the first since Dante in 1945 to land the turf’s ‘Blue Riband’.

William Buick settled him near the rear of the field and he seemed a little awkward coming down the hill but once around Tattenham Corner his long striding gallop and stamina really came into play and he swept past the field in the final furlong, with only Ruler Of The World keeping him at bay.

Was he an unlucky Derby loser? Possibly, as he was passing everything in the final furlong, just as he had done in the Betfred Dante Stakes at York, but I believe that Epsom’s undulations troubled him in the earlier parts of the race and back on a flat track, such as Doncaster, he will really establish himself as a top-class stayer.

Trainer Elaine Burke’s husband Karl said, after the race, that plans for Libertarian were fluid but the St Leger, the last of the season’s Classics, was his likely aim. Odds of 8-1 was being offered by some bookmakers and these seemed quite generous after his Derby performance.

It is very many years since North Yorkshire was the pre-eminent home of Classic winners - in the middle of the 19th century John Scott sent out 40 winners of these contests, including five Derbys and 16 St Legers, from his Whitewall stables in Norton.

The fact that Libertarian, from a comparatively small stable, came so near to success last Saturday must give hope to the many local trainers that Derby success is more than just a pipedream.

 

•THE remarkable success of local horses last Saturday should not overshadow the steady stream of winners returning to Ryedale.

Earlier last week John Quinn sent Things Change to Cartmel to win a hurdle race in the hands of Dougie Costello and on Wednesday evening Tim Easterby won the Hilary Needler Trophy at Beverley with Ventura Mist, ridden by Duran Fentiman. This two-year-old fillies contest no longer attains Listed status but always produces a really competitive contest and the winner often goes on to better things.

On the same evening, Paul Hanagan won on the Richard Fahey-trained Garde Cotiere while Clock On Tom, ridden by Graham Gibbons, brought more success to Sheriff Hutton for Mick Easterby.

On Friday, David Allan had double success at Catterick for Tim Easterby with Lost In Paris and Hawk Eye, while Yedingham trainer and transporter Alan Brown had a really popular winner with Meandmyshadow in the six furlongs sprint handicap.

This week has started well with Danny Tudhope winning on the David O’Meara-trained Creek Falcon at Leicester on Monday. Tim Easterby registered yet another success when Duran Fentiman scored on just Like Heaven at Carlisle’s evening meeting.

Earlier in the day, Richard Fahey had sent his promising two-year-old filly Sandiva over the Irish Sea to contest the Coolmore Stud EBF Fillies Sprint at Naas –- a Listed race won last year by this season’s 1,000 Guineas winner Sky Lantern.

Already a winner on her debut at Nottingham in the hands of Tom Eaves, Richard engaged Irish ace Pat Smullen for the Naas race and he gave the filly a fine ride coming through to win smoothly by one-and-a-half lengths.

Fahey said: “She’s always worked well at home and it is just nice to see her go and do it on the track. I’ll speak to the lads (owners, Middleham Park Racing) but the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot looks the next logical race.

“She’s got a huge stride for a filly and she’s certainly one of our better fillies at home.”

 

Get well soon, Tom

I GUESS that it must be close on 30 years ago that a young jockey started contributing to Gazette & Herald.

That was Tom O’Ryan, and it was the start of a career in journalism that has taken him to Britain’s leading racing paper, Racing Post; to be awarded the Racing Journalist of the Year award in 2002, and to become one of the popular pundits on Racing UK’s television programmes.

What a shock it was to hear of the severe injuries that Tom sustained in a quite bizarre accident at home at Brawby.

I am certain that regular readers of this page will join with me in wishing him a complete and speedy recovery and seeing his excellent writings back in this newspaper.