Racing: Bollin raises banner for Easterby

St Leger: Battling colt provides canny trainer with first Classic winner to restore northern pride

God's county reclaimed its own here yesterday. In winning the 226th St Leger, Bollin Eric became the first native of the Classic's home county Yorkshire to take the prize since Peleid in 1973. And those who decry the venerable race as a sporting occasion should take heed of the roar of approval that arose from the huge, partisan crowd as the local lad hit the front two furlongs from home.

That was the point where the field, which had been reduced to eight by the morning withdrawals of Nysaean and Black Sam Bellamy, went into unknown territory in terms of stamina and class. The St Leger is not only the oldest Classic, but the longest and toughest and the final quarter mile of the Town Moor straight makes uncompromising demands. Bollin Eric, urged on by Kevin Darley, found reserves of grit worthy of his birthplace as he dropped favourite Bandari and repelled the persistent challenge of Highest.

It was a first British Classic victory for 42-year-old Darley, and a first of any description for trainer Tim Easterby and owners Sir Neil and Lady Westbrook. What it meant to Darley was apparent when he punched the air as he passed the post a length and a quarter to the good, and covered Bollin Eric's dark, sweating neck with kisses as the waves of approbation swept off the grandstands. The plaudits were thoroughly deserved, for Darley, the somewhat unlikely champion jockey two years ago, had ridden a fine race on a colt who is not entirely straightforward.

"The plan had been to get him to settle," Darley said. "He can get very keen if you try to get too competitive with him, but he came into my hands very well. They went a decent gallop and, after a mile or so, I started to put him into the race. Turning for home, he was going well but started to try to get in amongst them. I felt I had to avoid that so I took him back and to the outside.

"Sometimes he can climb when you ask him to race, but this time he was smooth and strong. On the outside he was able to use his long stride and really enjoyed that relentless gallop down the straight," added Darley.

Bollin Eric, big, rangy and flashily marked with his four white stockings, was a fine and stirring sight as he powered past brave Bandari. "I knew that one would fight," Darley explained, "but we had enough to see him off, and although Highest was coming back at us at the end it was all over by then."

Victory for Bollin Eric, a son of the 1996 Derby winner Shaamit, was a rare enough triumph for what is generally called the little man in these days of dominance by the major Arab and Irish legions, but the term is relative. Easterby has charge of more than 100 horses at Great Habton, near Malton, having taken over the large and lucrative family business from his father, Peter, seven years ago. And anyone who has bred and run a string of racehorses, however small, for nearly 40 years, as have the Westbrooks, cannot be considered ordinarily poor.

The emotion of the moment prompted even Easterby, whose countenance is normally as unmoving as befits a son of the Dales earning brass (in this case the £240,000 prize took his seasonal earnings beyond a million for the first time), to venture a smile of satisfaction in a job excellently done. It was 7-1 shot Bollin Eric's first success of the year, but he has plied his trade regularly and consistently in good company all season, most recently when staking his St Leger claims with staying-on third to Bandari and Highest in the 12-furlong Great Voltigeur Stakes at York last month.

The visual impression that day was that he would be well served by yesterday's more severe test of stamina, and so it proved. "When I went into his box the other day he had eaten up everything," said Easterby, 40. "His legs were ice-cold and he looked wonderful. You could not have had a horse in better form before a Classic and I am sure he had never been better than he was before this."

The octogenarian Westbrooks – he is a former Lord Mayor of Manchester – are in their third generation of Easterbys, having started with the present incumbent's great-uncle, Walter, and have just five broodmares. Their St Leger hero gets his rather prosaic name from the river that flows near their home in Prestbury, Cheshire, and a cousin in their family.

Behind Bollin Eric trailed the prides of some of the world's largest operations. The St Leger remains a blank on Sir Michael Stoute's CV – Highclere Thoroughbreds' Highest was his fourth runner-up, while both Balakheri and First Charter finished out of the frame. Bandari, owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum and trained by Mark Johnston, failed to stay.

The Godolphin candidate Mamool came fourth but Sholokhov, for Ballydoyle, remained last throughout. Frankie Dettori who partnered Mamool, said: "I thought I had half a length in hand two out. But then Kevin went by me, and I shouted to him 'off you go'."