Record-breaking Mark Johnston hands over to son Charlie

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.

“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.

“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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.