There are plenty of trainers that perform creditably at York’s May Dante Meeting (you can use our horse racing software to find them easily) but one in particular catches our eye.

Mick Easterby is the trainer in question and he just loves a winner at York, especially a well handicapped one, more on that later.

 

Mick Easterby 17 year record

Based on his horse racing statistics, Mick Easterby’s record in the last 17 years is mighty impressive, with 11 winners from 87 runners at the Dante meeting, which you can see in the horse racing stats below:

 

Based on the Starting Price odds (SP) of his 87 runners, the implied number of winners was calculated to be 5 (EX Win Column)

However the actual number of winners (11) represents a 118% better than expected performance.

Also Mick’s win and place tally is running at nearly a 29% strike rate!

 

Mick Easterby Well Handicapped Runners

The other angle with Mick’s Dante meeting runners are their handicap marks. 

Plenty of his runners have run at York multiple times over the years and the runners coming back on a handy mark have performed extremely well.

Let’s run through a few.

 

BLUE SPINNAKER ran at the Dante meeting off 98 in 2004 finishing 4^th and then won at Redcar at the end of that month and was raised to 102.

By the 2005 meeting he was running off 103 after a couple more placed efforts in decent company but that didn’t stop him running another mighty race to finish second at the 2005 meeting.

He was raised to 104 and could not even raise a placed effort for nearly a year when finishing 3^rd at Pontefract of 90! In early April of 2006.

He then ran at the Dante meeting that same year still off his new lowly mark of 90 and won at 7/1.

 

ANCIENT CROSS was another to run well at this meeting over a number of years.

He ran for the first time at the 2011 Dante meeting winning off a mark of 89.  He was raised to 95 but duly obliged again at the end of July at Newcastle and was raised again to 101.

He struggled off this lofty mark and by the 2012 Dante Meeting he was still off 98 and could only finish 8^th. He started to show a glimmer of form when he got down to 91 with two placed efforts back to back in October 2012.

He was then given a break and started the 2013 season on 95, had two runs and came into the 2013 Dante meeting off 92.

He won at 14/1! And went on that season to win again in the Ayr Silver Cup in September off 97.

Once again he found himself off a mark too high at 101 but he has started this season off on 88 and was placed second time out off a mark of 87 and last time out he ran off 85.

He is a well handicapped beast who is sure to pick up a race or two this season off this mark. He isn’t entered at the Dante meeting but definitely a horse for the notebook.

 

HOOF IT is the next horse on the list. What a servant he has been over the years for Mick winning 7 times and twice at the Dante Meeting.

He first won at the meeting in 2010 off 72 at 5/2, a mark which was to prove what too low. 

He won twice more that year finishing the season off with an official rating of 99, which is what he ran off on his seasonal debut at the 2011 Dante Meeting, winning at 7/1.

He went on that season to win the Stewards Cup at Goodwood off 111 and was raised to 119 for that win. He has since placed in Group 1, Group 3 and Listed company but has not won since that almighty effort at Goodwood.

This means he comes into this season on a two year low mark of 101 and he is declared to run at this year’s Dante meeting on his seasonal debut in the Infinity Tyres Stakes Handicap on Wednesday. 

His stable mate, the progressive AETNA is also declared but would likely prefer more cut in than the ground than the currently described Good ground.

HOOF IT, is very well handicapped again off 101, having won off two higher marks in handicap company in the past.

He runs well fresh and although this year’s Dante meeting may not be a winning one for him, he looks sure to win a race this season off this mark.

 

ITLAAQ is an interesting running who is declared in two races on the race card at this week’s Dante meeting.

He ran at the 2011 meeting finishing well down the field off a mark of 90 and by the time of the next Dante meeting he had won a race, off 88, and was racing off 1lb higher at 91.

He finished 5^th that year but once again went on to win off 88 at the beginning of 2013, which means he ran off 92 for the 2013 Dante meeting and was 8^th.

He ran all the rest of the 2013 season off marks around 90 without winning but came out in 2014 winning off 81, you guessed it … … just before the Dante meeting. 

To his credit he ran a respectable 3^rd that year at York off 84 and then won at York in July off 83.

Since then he had 4 more runs in 2014, all losing ones and returned this season off 82 finishing 5^th and then 6^th off 81.

So this year ITLAAQ comes into the Dante meeting without blowing his mark beforehand and will run off 81 this week in one of two handicaps he is declared for. 

As highlighted by our racing software, we should expect a bold showing if Mick Easterby’s history with well handicapped horses at the Dante Meeting is anything to go by.