Three winners at York Knavesmire for trainer Richard Fahey

Three winners on Knavesmire’s opening meeting last week, a haul highlighted by Utmost Respect’s giant-sized performance to nail a Group 2 triumph in the prestigious Duke Of York Stakes, provided Fahey with the perfect start to the season on his favourite, and most local, course.

“It couldn’t have gone better,” said the Malton trainer. “The horses ran really well throughout the three days, and to see Utmost Respect win like he did was something special.”

It most certainly was. The star of Fahey’s Musley Bank yard, Utmost Respect was largely ignored in the Duke Of York betting on the opening day of the May Festival – the first racing to have taken place at York since last July – mainly due to the fast ground, which was widely thought to be a huge disadvantage to this confirmed mudlark.

The five-year-old, though, displayed his class with a power-packed performance, winning at 16-1 under regular rider Paul Hanagan, his biggest fan, by three-quarters of a length and a neck from King’s Apostle and Tax Free to secure a first prize of more than £60,000 for his owners, the Rumpole Partnership.

“We took a chance on the ground and it paid off,” admitted Fahey, who was proud of the way Utmost Respect, twice a Group 3 winner last year, overcame conditions to claim his first Group 2 triumph.

“He won, despite the ground,” said Hanagan, adding with a smile: “If it had been soft, they probably wouldn’t have seen which way we’d gone.”

Fahey is of the opinion that Utmost Respect could have a big year ahead. “He’s a stronger and more mature horse this year and the aim is to win a Group 1 race with him. He’ll be in all the big sprints, and if it’s soft ground, all the better for him.”

Fahey added to his York tally with a double on the final day of the meeting – by which time, ironically, the ground had turned soft after heavy rain – courtesy of smart handicappers Sloop Johnb and Antigua Sunrise, likewise ridden by Hanagan.

There are few things Tim Easterby enjoys more than a winner at York, and the Great Habton trainer was not to be disappointed last week.

He was on the mark with Anglezarke in the five furlongs conditions race. Sent off at 9-1, the three-year-old, who was Group-placed last season, prevailed by a length from Rievaulx World.

“She’s not a filly who overdoes herself when she works at home, but that’s a good thing. She’s different when she gets on a track. We’ve always thought a lot of her and what York proved was that she’s trained on from two to three,” said Easterby.

Plans for Anglezarke remain fluid, but there is a chance she will be aimed at the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.

The Easterby team have hit form with a vengeance lately and on Sunday it was the turn of Ponty Rossa to shine. Plagued with sinus problems last year, when she was restricted to just three (unplaced) outings, this former smart juvenile won at Ripon under David Allan, also the rider of Anglezarke.

“She had to have an operation on her sinuses at the Royal Dick Veterinary College in Edinburgh last year, so it’s good to see her back in such good form,” said Easterby, adding: “The soft ground was a big help to her – she’s a different filly when she can get her toe in.”

Tillys Tale may not be very big, but she can certainly sprint, as she proved at Thirsk last Saturday when carrying some famous colours to a 12-1 victory.

The Ryedale-trained two-year-old is owned by Muriel Hills, who also bred her, and so has the same connections as Soba, a sprinting sensation back in the 1980s when she won 13 races for Hills and developed into one of the best speedsters in Europe.

Tillys Tale is unlikely to ever scale the heights reached by Soba – trained by David Chapman and ridden to every one of her victories by a certain David Nicholls, now, of course, best known as a trainer of sprinters – but she did her job in style at Thirsk.

Ridden by Paul Pickard, she scored a determined one-and-a-half lengths success over the favourite Parbold Hill. Westow trainer Paul Midgley said: “She’s not very big, but she’s got a big heart.

It’s lovely for Mrs Hills to see her win, as she also bred her.”

Midgley, who was saddling his second two-year-old winner of term, feels his juvenile squad are only now striking form. “They haven’t been right,” he said. “We got them ready early, but they went off the boil, but they’re coming back again now.”

Midgley’s amateur rider, Wendy Gibson, who scored on the stable’s Smarty Socks at Doncaster last month, missed the domestic action at the weekend to travel to Germany to take part in an amateur riders’ race at Baden-Baden, as part of the FEGENTRI series. Taking on rivals from throughout Europe, Gibson finished fourth.

Lorraine Ellison this week added her name to the list of winning lady amateur riders this season.

Daughter and assistant of Norton trainer Brian Ellison, Lorraine opened her account for the campaign aboard Aureate at Southwell, where her father completed a double with Koo And The Gang, the mount of Tom Eaves, in the juvenile maiden.

Jamie Kyne, fast making a name for himself as an up-and-coming apprentice, enjoyed a red-letter day last week at Beverley by completing his first-ever double.

The Irish-born teenager scored on Pacific Pride and Classic Contours, both trained by his boss, Norton’s John Quinn, and both triumphant in nail-biting photo-finishes.

Pacific Pride got home by a nose in the five-furlong handicap, while Classic Contour had a head to spare in the mile-and-a-half handicap, with Kyne shining on both winners.

While the locals had an excellent time of it at Beverley, with Ollie Pears and Tony Hamilton teaming up with 15-8 winner Noodles Blue Boy and Richard Fahey and Paul Hanagan scoring with the odds-on Dr Jameson, Quinn enjoyed further success later in the week at Aintree with stable stalwart Aleron.

The 11-year-old, who had made his mark on the Flat, over hurdles and also over fences, gained a handsome victory under Dougie Costello in the handicap chase.

Now the winner of 13 races, Aleron has also finished second 17 times and third on 14 occasions. His prize money earnings now stand at more than £164,000.

There was a poignant moment for James Halliday at Market Rasen last Sunday when the Ryedale-based conditional jockey, one of the north’s rising young stars, rode his first winner at the Lincolnshire course where his elder brother, Tom, died in a race fall four years ago.

Halliday, who is attached to Malcolm Jefferson’s Norton yard, scored on Pokanoket in the novices’ hurdle.

“I have always enjoyed riding here and the mare was always travelling well for me,” said Halliday, who last year won the racecourse scholarship, founded in memory of his late brother.

It was a good day for Jefferson. He followed up with Mac Aeda, whom he also bred, whose easy victory in the bumper on his debut stamped him as a useful horse in the making for his owners, John and Doreen Davenport.

Freddie Tylicki, who has been going great guns again this season, is set to be conspicuous by his absence for a couple of weeks.

Richard Fahey’s 5lb claimer, having exceeded the 25-day totting-up limit over a 12-month period for whip offences, last week received a 20-day penalty for his misdemeanours. He will serve 15 days, with the remaining five days deferred for three months, meaning they will be triggered if he falls foul of another whip ban during that 12-week period. His enforced holiday starts this Friday.