'I had a right decent bet, oh I love it!' - Mick Easterby's best quotes at 90

Britain's oldest trainer, the ebullient Mick Easterby, turns 90 on Tuesday. This year, he celebrates his 60th anniversary in the sport and is showing no sign of stopping. We remember some of his more colourful remarks over the years.

I was quite innocent of course. But the barrister didn't half set about me. I told the barrister he should have a racehorse but he wasn't having it. Called me a con man – could be right I suppose.
Talking to Alastair Down, Easterby recalls his appearance in front of a tribunal in Birmingham when being investigated for insider dealing
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When I see people who have retired, I always say, 'You want your backside kicking, you will die before me!'
Easterby talking about the need to hire an assistant in 2017 and the prospect of retirement

You've made me look a c*** once, I'm not a c*** twice.
Easterby turned the air blue during an infamous live interview on Channel 4 in 2006 when he recalled what another trainer had said of him, forcing the broadcaster to profusely apologise

Easterby teams up with friend Adrian Greenwood on the Cole Porter classic Night and Day on a 115-year-old piano to help raise money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance charity

He cost £14,000 and he's won nearly £400,000 in stakes money. Some investment that. You won't get that at any bank.
Reflecting on Hoof It, who racked up a succession of valuable Class 2 handicaps in a profitable 60-race career

I did have four sets of false teeth but I sold one on the internet and got £120. I'm a legend, you see.
Easterby was on top form when talking to Lee Mottershead last year
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I wrapped myself in blankets in front of the fire and sweated off a lot and drinking a bottle of liquid paraffin did the rest.
Remembering his days as a jockey, Easterby details the unique method he employed when needing to lose 10lb to take a ride for his uncle Walter at Wetherby
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I had a right decent bet yesterday, I put all my clients on. Oh I love it, I love it!
Easterby was rubbing his hands with glee after saddling a satisfactory winner at Thirsk in the summer of 2019

Tell people you can't afford it, you've not got the money, no point in hiding. That's how to get a deal.
Easterby outlines his philosophy on how to buy horses

Easterby sharing a joke with Britain's winningmost trainer Mark JohnstonCredit: Edward Whitaker

I put Alice on the grandstand and told her when she gave the signal of taking off her hat we would all back the horse at the same time. While he was waiting, Mr Wrigley went over to the Ladbrokes pitch and asked for a price about Lochnager. The bookie told him 5-1. He kept looking up at Alice, like we all did, but she wasn't taking her hat off.

A minute later Mr Wrigley asked again and the price was down to 4-1. Alice still had her hat on. He asked twice more and by then the price was 6-4. 'The silly cow still hasn't taken her hat off,' he said to the man at Ladbrokes. What we didn't know was Alice had pinned the hat on her head and couldn't get if off.
Easterby recounts a failed gamble on his horse Lochnager at Haydock in 1975, all because of his wife's hat
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Read more classic Mick Easterby tales. . .

'I’ll have fish and chips and watch Wolverhampton' - Mick Easterby turns 90

'I'm a legend' - read this 2020 interview with Mick Easterby as he turns 90

The Easterbys: brothers, businessmen and a real good laugh

Now it's Singing not Spittin' Mick as Easterby duets on Cole Porter classic

Easterby green jacket makes a 'monkey' and stays in Yorkshire

'Disgraceful' BHA call to ban special rein leaves Mick spittin'

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