The nine-day Yorkshire Summer Racing Festival climaxes at York on Friday and Saturday, with a ‘Music Showcase weekend’.

Famed entertainers Madness will be performing after racing on Friday night, while, on Saturday, it’s the turn of four stars of the X Factor to wow the crowds.

On the track, Ryedale trainers Tim Easterby and Richard Fahey, both regular Knavesmire scorers, are aiming to top the charts again.

Easterby has his horses in dynamic form. He got off to a flying start to the Yorkshire Racing Festival when saddling three winners at Ripon on Saturday – Peppercorn Rent, Offspring and Jonny Lesters Hair – while on Monday, he followed up with Escape Artist, at Beverley, and, more importantly, Favourite Girl, who landed a £40,000 sprint handicap at Ayr under Duran Fentiman.

Fentiman will be in the saddle aboard Off Chance in Friday evening’s Lyric Stakes at York, seeking further Listed glory, having recently won a similar race at Pontefract when, for the first time, she was ‘ponied’ to the start. Being accompanied by another horse (not a runner), and taken on a lead-rein to the stalls, worked a treat for the temperamental Off Chance last time out.

The same routine is expected to be employed again with former jump jockey Russ Garritty being the ‘leader’ on the ‘pony’, which will be one of Off Chance’s stable-mates.

Come Saturday and Easterby will be strongly represented in the £50,000 Sky Bet Dash by the likes of Midnight Martini, The Nifty Fox, Confessional and Discanti, while Fahey will also be multi-handed with Kaldoun Kingdom, Baldemar and Valery Borzov.

Both trainers have a host of other runners throughout the two days of York action and should be closely monitored.

Watch out, too, for Christmas Light, trained by David O’Meara – another in-form Ryedale trainer – who was a winner on the course recently when providing Ryedale owners Lynne and Dave Lumley with their first Knavesmire triumph in 12 years of ownership. She is due to run in Saturday’s fillies’ handicap.

The Yorkshire Summer Racing Festival, which also embraces an afternoon fixture at Thirsk on Friday, comes to a close at Pontefract on Sunday, when a range of off-course activities will be complemented by some excellent racing action. Top of the pops will be the £40,000 Pomfret Stakes, a Listed race over a mile, which is the target of the tough and talented Harrison George, trained by Fahey, and a winner at Haydock last weekend.

• Two of Ryedale’s most promising apprentices have posted milestone successes within a matter of days of each other.

Lee Topliss and Dale Swift both gained their 20th career victories and, in the process, reduced their riding allowance to 5lb.

Topliss was triumphant at Hamilton last Friday night when, aboard his third winner of the week, he bagged a runaway 10-lengths win on Carlitos Spirit for Ian McInnes, while Swift was on the mark aboard Prime Circle for Yedingham trainer Alan Brown at Redcar on Sunday.

“Things have gone great since I joined Richard Fahey, having never ridden a winner early on last season,” said Topliss, who got off the mark in June last year aboard Joe Jo Star at Ayr. “Getting down to 5lb in another step forward for me.”

Swift was singing from the same hymn sheet at Redcar. Having switched this year, after shedding about a stone in weight, from riding as a conditional over jumps to a Flat apprentice, Swift is enjoying the time of his life.

“I can’t believe how well things have gone for me. I started riding a few on the Flat, mainly to keep fit and keep my eye in when the jumping was quiet, but it’s gone that well I intend to concentrate on the Flat now. I’ve had a lot of support from my boss Brian Ellison and from (fellow Ryedale trainer) Tim Etherington, and I’ve had a lot of good advice, too, about keeping my weight in check.”

Topliss, who followed up on Carlitos Spirit at Beverley on Monday night, and Swift are clearly both going places and are not on their own in North Yorkshire, which continues to be a hotbed of talent for young riders.

One season on from Norton-based Freddie Tylicki winning the apprentices’ championship, Jimmy Sullivan, attached to Mick Easterby’s Sheriff Hutton yard, is currently leading this season’s charge for title honours, with Ian Brennan, apprenticed to John Quinn, not too far adrift. Sullivan has been seen to excellent effect on numerous occasions in recent weeks and produced another polished effort at Redcar last Sunday when he scored on the Linda Stubbs-trained Bronze Beau, who carried the colours of Norton owner Dave Arundale to an all-the-way success.

This was a second success in a matter of days for Stubbs and Arundale, who, earlier in the week at Beverley, had been on the mark with the newcomer Katell, who ran out a fluent 8-1 winner under Tom Eaves.

• Umverti proved lightning can, occasionally, strike in the same place twice, at Pontefract last Friday night.

The five-year-old, trained at Norton by Neville Bycroft, won the fillies’ handicap – just as she had done 12 months earlier.

On this occasion, confidently handled by Danny Tudhope, Umverti stayed on strongly to post a 6-1 success over Chilly Filly to record her third course win.