Easterby pays tribute as Royal Ascot-winning owner Roy Connew dies aged 86

Tim Easterby led the tributes to Royal Ascot-winning owner and long-standing race sponsor Roy Connew, who has died at the age of 86.

Easterby trained the 1998 Windsor Castle Stakes and Weatherbys Super Sprint winner Flanders for Connew and his wife Jean, and also Jemima who took the Lowther Stakes in their colours the following year.

"It's really sad," Easterby said. "He was a wonderful owner, he had some lovely fillies and he had some ordinary horses as well and he was just as good with an ordinary one as with a good one. We had some great times.

"He loved to do the race planning, which was great because he was very good at it. I remember he planned it out when we knew Flanders was good – he knew we could go for the Windsor Castle and not get a penalty for the Super Sprint. He was a lovely man."

Connew, who was based in Linton near Wetherby, worked in insurance and sponsored the Ladies' Derby at Ripon through his company Beaumonts.

Course chief executive James Hutchinson: "It's sad news, he was a long-term supporter of Ripon as an owner and as a sponsor and I pass on my condolences to the family."

Connew leaves his widow Jean as well as two sons and a daughter. His funeral will be at 10.20am at Harrogate Crematorium on Monday February 3.

Full profile of Flanders and Jemima

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