'I think we've only won because of the tactics' - Easterbys rewarded as pre-racing course walk pays off

Walking the track before racing proved vital for joint-trainer David Easterby as a change to normal fast-ground race tactics meant he and father Mick came away with a rapid double.

Jockeys usually only come up the stands' rail at the Yorkshire venue when the ground is soft, but Easterby felt the widest strip of turf was riding quicker and instructed Serena Brotherton to head there in the opening race.

Easterby was rewarded when Brotherton ploughed a lone furrow on the stands' rail and came out on top to land the 1m2f female amateur jockeys' handicap on Unplugged.

The same tactics were then deployed in the following 5f handicap by Shane Gray, who was the only one to stay wide from the stalls when recording a half-length win on the Easterby-trained So Grateful.

"It was a great ride, wasn't it?" Easterby said about Gray. "It's all right having the idea, but you've got to follow it through and he didn't go too fast. When you go out on your limb there, it's very easy to get the fractions wrong and he didn't do that."

He added: "Unfortunately Serena likes to get to the track very early and I had nothing else to do, so I thought I'd walk the track. I think the only reason we've won is because of the tactics we've taken on."

Gray doubled up in the £30,000 6f novice named in honour of Spindrifter, who won 13 times as two-year-old for Sir Mark Prescott, including three victories at Pontefract.

The rider made all along the stands' rail on the Kevin Ryan-trained We Never Stop, who was winning for the first time on his third start when fending off the 5-6 favourite Twilight Romance.

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