Subjectivist on retrieval mission in Dubai Gold Cup

March 22, 2023/in Horseracing News/by DaveM

Mark Johnston has placed Subjectivist among the best three horses he ever trained but confesses it is a “wing and a prayer job” as to whether he will ever return to his very best.

The 2021 Ascot Gold Cup winner will line up in Saturday’s Dubai Gold Cup, a race he won prior to his career highlight, but to repeat that success he will need to step up markedly on what he achieved in Saudi Arabia.

Making his first start for 618 days following a tendon injury, Subjectivist was understandably keen early on, giving himself no chance, and Johnston, who handed over the licence to his son Charlie recently, admits that following such a setback it may be difficult for him to return to his best.

He said: “He’s just gone round the training track once this morning with Joe Fanning on him. Since he’s come back from his injury he’s been a bit keen, as you may have seen at Saudi.

Joe Fanning is dynamite from the front! 🙌

Subjectivist is different class as he wins the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup for @Johnston_Racing at @MeydanRacing pic.twitter.com/K3DGaP3Gps

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) March 27, 2021

“He was too keen for his own good there, as he is on the gallops at home, so the main thing for us is to try and get him relaxed and settled. I don’t think we’ll work him on the grass at all as Charlie said he got very wound up in Saudi by being on the track every morning.

“It’s brilliant to have him back but it’s a wing and a prayer job. When you have a tendon injury like he did, you’re always thinking ‘when does the end come?’ – it will come at some point.

“As he was too keen on the night in Saudi and the event and build up proved to be a bit much for him, Charlie was keen to go to the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot and then the Gold Cup. We debated about it with John, our senior vet, and he said just to see really, who knows whether he’ll still be going come Ascot Gold Cup time so we thought we’d come here. The money is fantastic and makes a huge difference.”

Saturday’s contest is a strong one but rather than worry about the opposition, Johnston feels that Subjectivist will take all the beating if he can get back to the form he showed two seasons ago.

He went on: “It’s a very good race on Saturday, but there’s been no better staying races than the Ascot Gold Cup he won two years ago and it’s probably no better than the Gold Cup he won here. It’s down to whether he’s able to come back and perform as he used to.

“I put him in the category of our best three ever, because with the other two horses I never looked at the opposition. Those two horses were Shamardal and Attraction and it’s the same with this horse, we don’t look at the opposition.

“We look at whether he can run to his best and if he does that he’ll be tough to beat. We firmly believed that in 2021 he was the best stayer in the world and it’s just going to be whether he can get back to that.”

Business as usual – Charlie Johnston off the mark as he aims high in first season

January 5, 2023/in Horseracing News/by DaveM

Charlie Johnston has ambitious plans for a double century in 2023 after saddling his first winner in his own name at Kempton.

Following a year with a joint-licence alongside his record-breaking father Mark, it was confirmed last week that Charlie would hold the licence outright from the new year.

And while Johnston jnr insists it is very much business as usual at his Middleham base, he admits it was a relief to see Asdaa get the job done as only his second runner on Wednesday.

Mark and Charlie Johnston at Goodwood (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

“As we’ve said all along, we’re not treating it as a huge change, but at the same time there was always going to be more eyes on those early runners than there would be ordinarily at this time of year, so it was good to get off the mark at just the second time of asking,” he said.

“With the change will come a greater scrutiny of results for the season ahead, so in that sense there is a bit of added pressure.

“Any dip in form or standards and people will attribute that to the change in control.”

Mark Johnston is the most successful trainer in the history of British racing in terms of numbers, having gone through the 5,000-winner barrier in the summer.

He also became the first trainer to saddle 200 winners in a calendar year in 2009, a feat a repeated on a further nine occasions, with his tally of 249 victories in 2019 his best.

With a joint-licence the Johnstons enjoyed 176 winners in Britain last year, as well as three on foreign soil, and Charlie is keen to ensure there is no slipping of standards.

He added: “As I jokingly said yesterday, one down, 4,999 to go – at least he hasn’t set the the bar too high!

“We’ll be setting out to better last year if at all possible and we’ve got one on the board. There’s a few to go still, though.

“As people probably know, we like to set targets. We set targets for each of our individual yard managers and then a target overall for the yard as a whole.

Charlie Johnston off the mark! 🏇

Asdaa follows up his Newcastle success to provide Charlie Johnston with a first winner since taking over the training licence in his own right. @Johnston_Racing pic.twitter.com/bLaaR0SCsp

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 4, 2023

“It’s ambitious to beat the 179 winners from last year, but we’ll be targeting 200 winners again this year. That is the standard that we like to set ourselves and that’s what we’ll be aiming towards.

“We’re not all doing vastly different roles this week to what we were last week. A lot of the day-to-day management of things here at Kingsley Park in terms of what the horses are doing and what horses are galloping and such like, I’ve been planning the majority of that for a few years now, so in that sense no one’s role has really changed.

“No one is taking any feet off the pedal, that’s for sure – we’re all still full gas to achieve as much as we can in 2023.”

As far as Asdaa is concerned, there will be no chance to bask in the glory of becoming Charlie Johnston’s first winner, having been declared to run again at Kempton on Saturday.

Charlie Johnston has a lot to live up to (Mike Egerton/PA)

Having also struck gold Newcastle on December 28, the seven-year-old will be bidding to complete a hat-trick in the space of 10 days, while Johnston also has high hopes for Star Mood on the same Kempton card.

He said: “Asdaa goes again over the same course and distance on Saturday. I think he’s effectively running off 71, but it will be his last chance to run in a 0-65 handicap so it seemed too good an opportunity to pass by when he’s obviously in very good fettle in himself.

“It will be a big ask for three wins in 10 days, but you’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot.

“Star Mood made a lovely debut at Kempton a few weeks ago and hopefully he’ll be able to go one better on Saturday.”

Stellar names adorn Mark Johnston’s glittering training CV

December 30, 2022/in Horseracing News/by DaveM

With a record number of career winners, there are obviously plenty of horses Mark Johnston can look back on with fond memories. While the likes of Branston Abby, Yavana’s Pace and Fruits Of Love all deserve honourable mentions, here are six of the top horses from the team that was ‘Always Trying’:

Attraction

This filly defied her famously unconventional action to bag five Group One wins, including both the English and Irish 1,000 Guineas in 2004. Johnston showed patience in spades to nurse her back from injury during her four-year-old season, with that skill paying dividends as she signed off her career with Matron Stakes glory at Leopardstown.

Shamardal

This horse has become of one of the key sires of recent times and it was Johnston who guided his unbeaten three-start juvenile career, culminating in a comprehensive Dewhurst Stakes win in 2004. Shamardal was subsequently transferred to Saeed bin Suroor, for whom he won three Group Ones before injury ended his career.

Double Trigger

This flashy chestnut with a big white blaze built up quite a following by virtue of his eyecatching looks and bold running style. He completed the stayers’ grand slam in 1995, winning the Ascot, Goodwood and Doncaster Cups. He has a statue in his honour on Town Moor after winning the Doncaster Cup three times, while he also completed a hat-trick at Goodwood.

Royal Rebel

Involved in one of the most famous Ascot Gold Cup battles ever, Royal Rebel showed guts aplenty to edge out Persian Punch by a head after the pair slugged it out in the final furlong in 2001. Not the most straightforward of animals, Johnston got him back to top form for the Royal meeting the following year, when he rallied after looking beaten to see off Vinnie Roe by a neck.

Mister Baileys

A landmark horse in Johnston’s career, Mister Baileys was a dual Group-race winner as a juvenile, but was allowed to go off a 16-1 shot when he won the 2000 Guineas by the shortest of short heads in 1994. Connections opted to take the brave route and head to Epsom for the Derby, but having sat clear with half a mile to run, he ran out of gas and faded into fourth.

Subjectivist

This son of Teofilo was Johnston’s most recent and ultimately final staying star – winning the Prix Royal-Oak, the Dubai Gold Cup and last year’s Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in the space of nine months. He looked like he might become the new dominant force in the division after the most recent of those triumphs, but a subsequent injury means he has not been seen since.

Mark Johnston: From humble beginnings to British racing’s winning machine

December 30, 2022/in Horseracing News/by DaveM

From growing up on an East Kilbride council estate to becoming the most successful trainer in British racing history. It is fair to say it has been quite a journey for Mark Johnston.

Born in Glasgow on October 10, 1959, Johnston became interested in racing through his father, who had been a groom in the army and owned horses.

Johnston – who will no longer have a joint-licence in partnership with his son, Charlie – was intent on becoming a trainer from the age of 14, but after being educated at Callender High School, his parents insisted he took a degree and a five-year veterinary course at Glasgow led to him working in a practice for a further three years.

Johnston, however, has never been one to shirk a challenge and, along with his childhood sweetheart Deirdre, whom he married in 1985, he upped sticks and bought a yard in Lincolnshire the following year, from where he commenced his training career in 1987.

Double Trigger was one of Mark Johnston's first top-class horses — Double Trigger was one of Mark Johnston’s first top-class horses (David Cheskin/PA)

Despite starting from scratch with what he described as only “three and a half paying horses” and gallops that were part of an RAF target practice range, it did not take the Glasgow-born rookie long to hit the target, with Hinari Video giving him his first winner when striking gold at Carlisle in the July of his first year with a licence.

Hinari Video was no star, but went on to run in a further 126 races and won another 11, making him the first example of the archetypal Johnston-trained horse who retained his enthusiasm and would keep coming back for more.

In 1988, the Mark and Deirdre moved to the small North Yorkshire market town of Middleham after buying Kingsley House, an empire which has now extended to two further yards, creating a major complex covering 270 acres.

Undoubtedly aided by his veterinary background, Johnston has ensured his equine inmates have everything they need to fulfil their potential including three separate grass gallops; an all-weather Tapeta gallop; an equine swimming pool; weighbridges and starting stalls.

Mark Johnston is stepping aside from his role as joint-trainer with his son, Charlie (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

Ever since that move to Middleham, the winners were churned out with amazing regularity at all levels.

Johnston registered his first century of winners in 1994 and achieved three-figure tallies every year since – from 2009, he chalked up 200 or more successes on 10 occasions.

Johnston, whose well-established stable motto was ‘Always Trying’, saddled his first 1,000 winners in record time – 90 days quicker than the previous record holder in the late, great Sir Henry Cecil.

If anything, the Johnston juggernaut has subsequently gathered further momentum as it took him just four and a half years to move from 3,000 to 4,000 winners. In August 2018 he eclipsed Richard Hannon as Britain’s winning-most trainer when Poet’s Society won at York, ridden by Frankie Dettori.

Along the way were Classic victories for Attraction (1000 Guineas) and Mister Baileys (2000 Guineas), while the exploits of Double Trigger are etched in the annals of the staying division.

Frankie Dettori rode Poet's Society, Mark Johnston's landmark winner — Frankie Dettori rode Poet’s Society, Mark Johnston’s landmark winner (Tim Goode/PA)

Paying his tribute to Johnston at the time, the prolific Martin Pipe said: “It’s a marvellous achievement and I’m delighted for him. I read the other day
that I was his inspiration, which is nice. It’s a wonderful achievement and I admire him very much.”

And Derby-winning trainer Charlie Appleby added: “He is the ultimate professional and his results and statistics only speak for themselves.”

Johnston was president of the National Trainers Federation in 2003 and has never been shy of having his views on racing politics heard.

In fact, he is a former director of the sport’s ruling body, the British Horseracing Authority, where he represented the interests of trainers and fellow horsemen.

Mark and Deirdre have two sons in Charlie and Angus. Like his father, Charlie is a qualified vet and joined his father on the licence early in 2021, with the pair enjoying a Group One victory with Dubai Mile at Saint-Cloud in October – the same horse that made it 5,000 career winners for Johnston when striking at Kempton in August.

Record-breaking Mark Johnston relinquishing joint-licence with son Charlie

December 30, 2022/in Horseracing News/by DaveM

Mark Johnston – the trainer of more winners in the history of British racing than anyone else – is relinquishing his role as joint-trainer with his son, Charlie, although he is keen to stress he is not retiring.

Johnston, 63, who is responsible for over 5,000 victories, went into partnership with his son earlier this year.

While it was always the intention for Charlie to take sole control of the yard at some point, it was not expected to be so soon. Three horses have been entered to run next week in just Charlie’s name.

Mark Johnston (left) and his son Charlie watching the action at Goodwood (Alan Crowhurst/PA)

“Charlie’s had a sole licence since the beginning of last week. A lot of the horses have already been transferred over, who didn’t have entries,” Johnston told the PA news agency.

“It was only those who had entries today and tomorrow that are still on the joint-licence.

“It has just been coming. Nothing has really changed in terms of our roles. They will continue. I just didn’t feel that the joint-licence worked. It served a purpose and I’m not saying they shouldn’t have joint-licences, I just felt it was a bit of a limbo.

“When we had big successes, Charlie wasn’t getting credit for the part he plays. I just felt that if we were to have a spectacular winner somewhere, it wouldn’t be quite the same as being an individual.

“We went to a joint-licence at the beginning of last year and the plan was it would be at least three or four years, but I just felt there was no point. I just felt it should be one name.

Attraction was a brilliant performer for Mark Johnston (Gareth Fuller/PA)

“I’ll still be there, doing the same hours, but in not quite the same capacity as my name won’t be on the licence.”

Johnston – whose great horses included Attraction, Mister Baileys, Shamardal and the hugely-popular Double Trigger – added: “I just felt the joint-licence was a bit of a pointless exercise. I think in order to get to the races and so on, I will have to have a stable pass for the first time. This will be the first time I have ever been employed by another trainer!

“I’m one of the few, if maybe not the only person, who has never been employed by anyone else.

“None of the licensing really reflects the true situation, as we are both employees of a limited company and nothing changes that. The company has been in existence since 1988 and that hasn’t changed. I’m not retiring.”

Frankie Dettori with Mark Johnston after riding Poet’s Society to a record-breaking victory at York (Tim Goode/PA)

The Johnstons enjoyed Group One success together this season with Dubai Mile in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud in October, with the colt now viewed as a Derby prospect. The same horse provided Johnston senior with his 5,000th winner at Kempton in August.

Born in Glasgow, his career began in humble beginnings in March 1987 in Lincolnshire before moving to Middleham in 1988, and it has been a success story ever since.

He trained a century of winners for the first time in 1994 and has trained 200 or more on 10 occasions, taking over from Richard Hannon senior as Britain’s winning-most trainer when 20-1 chance Poet’s Society won under Frankie Dettori at York in August 2018.

Monday Musings: Time Flying By

April 20, 2020/in Monday Musings/by mattbisogno

Logic told me time would pass slowly during lock-down. Five weeks in, it’s definitely speeded up, writes Tony Stafford. I spoke to my son twice last week, briefly on Sunday and then again for a few minutes more on Friday and I swore that there could only have been a couple of days between the two contacts.

Twin came around on BBC4 again on Saturday evening in my favourite 9 p.m. international drama slot and will already be finished by next weekend. Thankfully I’ve now joined BBC I-Player so I can have a second look on the confusing bits of that rapidly-evolving and brain-challenging eight-part (two each week) Norwegian epic when I get some time. I was very disappointed that Spiral, a series of series I most wanted to see and that motivated my joining, is not on the list.

The other evening it was still light when the Thursday 8 p.m. clapping reverberated from the flats all around. Racing fans in the UK, denied so much since the shut-down on March 18 and more so in Ireland, will have lost most markedly; along with the mainstream we all are aware of, the accelerating number of evening meetings, many of them over jumps, that bolster the normal spring racing menu have also been cancelled. Just to let you know, the days start getting shorter in nine weeks’ time!

The Racing Post’s online-only newspaper carries the cards, like Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay, that have kept racing going in Florida. Like everyone else, the Post included, I expected the Wesley Ward juveniles on show at Gulfstream on successive early evenings last week to do a Lady Aurelia and blow away the opposition.

But both on Thursday and Friday, first the 30-100 shot Lime, a daughter of Iqbaal, and then Golden Pal, 1-2 (by Uncle Mo), contrived to show the trademark Ward early pace only to succumb in almost identical fashion to a single stronger finisher even though their races were over only four and a half furlongs.

This pair was reportedly among the planned Ward annual contingent for Royal Ascot but first that spectator-free entity needs to be confirmed as does secondly that overseas runners may be accepted if it does. Should they come, I’m sure the traditional fear in which they are held by home trainers may have been a little diluted, although there’s plenty of time for Wesley to build some of that extra physical maturity that his juvenile challengers always seem to display.

I’ve been intrigued by the identity of today’s evening offering at Will Rogers Downs and thought it might justify a little investigating. I wasn’t at all prepared for what I readily discovered on the web. Will Rogers Downs is a gaming (principally, of course) and horse racing venue in Rogers County, close to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is operated by the Cherokee Nation.

That administrative area encompasses 14 counties in North-East Oklahoma and a local population of around 200,000 in one way or another descended mainly from Cherokee and two other Native American tribes.

If that wasn’t unusual enough, the jockeys and trainers will be totally unknown to most of us, unlike the stars who descend on Florida each winter and spring, especially with New York firmly shut down. For the record, Floyd Wethey, Jr. is the top rider so far in 2020 and Scott Young is leading trainer. Tonight’s 10-race card offers one quite valuable prize, a near £25k to the winner fillies and mares race. I won’t put forward a potential winner.

The gaming provides the prizemoney and the track keeps a chunk of all the race wagering. Gaming is also keeping the UK bookmaking companies going, and if the number of advertisements for casino betting that we see in the commercial breaks on most channels nowadays is indicative of betting levels in these odd times, gambling is probably going off the charts.

How the BHA must wish it could get its claws on even a small percentage of that massive cake, not that it would be right to do so (as we saw with the FOBT fiasco). Maybe they should ask Captain Tom to do a sponsored walking-frame-push around the Ascot paddock on his 100^th birthday on Thursday next week while singing his chart-topping duet with Michael Ball of You’ll Never Walk Alone? The £23 million (probably more by the time you read this) by which his exploits will be aiding the NHS efforts exceeds the not-insignificant £22 million that the Levy Board is targeting to help racecourses and others through their troubled financial times.

Yesterday we went for a fourth walk of the lockdown, this time forsaking the Olympic Park, for the newly (at Easter) re-opened Victoria Park, which is in the opposite direction. The park had been closed for some time after that initial period when sunbathing and all the other indicators of holidays in good weather in the summertime caused a Government re-think. Everyone was doing the keep-out-of-the-way six-feet walk yesterday; there is no cycling and all the dogs including our Yorkie Josephina were on a lead.

What was obvious, though, was that while the ground is not yet showing any real suggestion of much new growth, the five weeks of drought, following hard on the months of near waterlogging, has already brought great cracks in the turf at some places.

Hughie Morrison has been kindly sending me a brief video every Friday of Ray Tooth’s big homebred and still unraced three-year-old Bogeyman going through his paces. Each week they have been working on the wonderful grass gallops, developed over many years by the Cundell family but now owned and managed by Sir James Dyson.

The Victoria Park phenomenon is extending into Berkshire as the colour of the terrain seems to be lightening week on week. How ironic, with barely a day’s racing after the turn of the year and before Cheltenham being staged on anything but soft or heavy ground, unless we get some rain soon, it will be firm or as near as makes no difference when we resume. Expect to see stand-pipes in the streets by July.

Finally, after hearing that he thinks racing should start as soon as possible – Nick Rust’s line at the weekend too – it was salutary that Mark Johnston has subsequently revealed he is in isolation at home after being quite ill after contracting Covid-19. It must be so frustrating, frightening even, with the Flat season still to start, for Britain’s winning-most trainer that the new norm is so alien. I’m sure that everyone in racing will be wishing Mark, wife Deirdre and their family and staff all the best in the coming trying days.

- TS

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