Charlie Johnston has revealed that he has ambitions of training at least 200 winners in his own name in 2023 after taking over fully from his record-breaking father Mark at the turn of the year.
After a year sharing the licence with his son, Mark Johnston confirmed that Charlie would take the reins this season, and it didn't take the new master of Middleham long to get off the mark with just his second runner Asdaa (Ire) (Dutch Art {GB}) scoring at Kempton on Wednesday.
That tally was quickly doubled on Thursday when Demillion (Ire) (Roaring Lion) won cosily at Wolverhampton.
Speaking about plans for the season, Johnston said, “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.
“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 blasted through the 5,000-winner mark last summer. He also became the first trainer to saddle 200 winners in a calendar year in 2009, a feat 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 said, “As I jokingly said yesterday, one down, 4,999 to go-at least he hasn't set the bar too high!
“We'll be setting out to better last year if at all possible. 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.
“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.”
Johnston added, “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.”
Johnston also had a positive report on his Group 1-winning stayer Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}), who is back in full work and is pointing to the G1 Saudi Cup undercard at the end of February.
“Entries closed yesterday morning for the Saudi Cup meeting and Subjectivist has been entered in the [G3] Red Sea Turf H.–[the] 1 mile and 7-furlong race,” Johnston said.
Winner of the 2021 G1 Gold Cup June 17, the now-6-year-old was previously victorious in the 2020 G1 Prix Royal-Oak at ParisLongchamp on Oct. 25 and the 2021 G2 Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan in March of 2021. During his win at the Royal Meeting, he sustained a potentially career-threatening leg injury. While there were initially hopes he would return to defend his Gold Cup crown, it did not happen by the summer.
Johnston is taking a day-to-day approach, and he is pleased with what he has seen so far.
Reporting on Subjectivist's progress, “He's been back in work since early October and has been cantering all the way through December and into January now. There's still a long way to go–we haven't started to turn the screw just yet with any faster work.
“Every day the fingers are crossed watching him, but so far so good.”
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