Success - Famous son of a famous father

The only son of Peter Easterby - still the only trainer in Britain to have trained more than 1,000 winners under both codes - Tim was involved in the yard while still at school and rode successfully as an amateur rider, while acting as assistant-trainer to his father for more than a decade before taking over at the helm in February 1996.

In racing terms, he had a university education. Peter Easterby may have started out with only seven horses in the early 1950s, but he spectacularly rose to the challenge to become one of the greatest dual-purpose trainers of all-time.

Cast an admiring eye over his star-studded career, highlighted by numerous multi-talented horses, many bought out of the bargain-basement of the bloodstock market, and it's like taking a trip down memory lane.

Who could possibly forget the brilliant exploits of Sea Pigeon, the dual Champion Hurdle winner, who also landed two Chester Cups and, at the age of nine, memorably defied top-weight of 10st in the 1979 Ebor Handicap at York?

Or Night Nurse, likewise twice successful in the Champion Hurdle, who, in 1981, was narrowly denied a Cheltenham Gold Cup triumph by Little Owl - ironically also trained by Peter Easterby.

The list of star performers is endless. Saucy Kit, his first Champion Hurdle winner in 1967; Alverton, the 1979 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero, who was tragically killed in the Grand National the following month; Cheltenham Festival winners like Clayside, Town Ship, King Weasel and Ryeman; crack hurdlers, Stirling and Within The Law, and multi-talented chasers like Easby Abbey and Father Delaney.

And on the Flat, the brilliantly-fast Goldhill, winner of the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Gimcrack hero Sonnen Gold. Old Tom and Bronze Hill, both winners of the Lincoln Handicap, and Able Albert, Polly's Brother and Final Shot, who gave Easterby a remarkable trio of successes in the Ayr Gold Cup.

The mere mention of the Easterby name, then, is synonymous with racing in Britain, and particularly in Yorkshire. And Tim Easterby has proved more than a chip off the old block, with the added bonus of having his hugely-experienced father as his assistant. Since sending out Bollin Joanne to win the Group 3 Duke Of York Stakes at York in 1997, in only his second season, he has consistently figured high on the scoresheet. Flanders, Pipalong, Romantic Myth and Jemima have proved high achievers among the fillies, while St Leger winner Bollin Eric has shone among the 'boys', along with fellow Group 1 winners Somnus and Fayr Jag.

"The beauty for me of this game is training nice horses for good owners and loyal owners, most of whom are in it for the sport," said Tim in Yorkshire Life magazine. "We try to do our best for them," he stressed, before adding, "It's a business to me, but a pleasure to them." A succinct summing-up of the philosophy at Habton Grange.