Brian Hughes staying grounded as he gears up for tense title-race battle

Brian Hughes believes it would be his greatest achievement if he were to become champion jockey but insists he will not begin to focus on the title race with Richard Johnson until the new year.

Both riders were on 96 winners at the conclusion of racing on Tuesday after Hughes drew level with a four-timer at Carlisle at the weekend.

It is the closest the leaderboard has been at this stage of the season since 2003-04, when Johnson trailed 20-time champion jockey Sir Anthony McCoy by three winners before going on to lose by 21.

"Everybody wants to be champion jockey," Hughes told the Racing Riot podcast. "That's the dream when you're starting out as it's the pinnacle. You start off as best you can at the beginning of the year and I'm closer at this point of the season than I have been before.

"The championship is not really at the forefront of my mind. Every jockey just tries to do their day-to-day job and ride as many winners as they can. You can't try too hard on horses or be distracted looking over your shoulder at this early stage of the season.

"I've always said if I was in contention in the new year, then I might have a chance and become more focused on it. It would be my greatest achievement if it were to happen.

"For now there's no added pressure. As you get older you become more experienced and I try not do do anything differently."

At this stage last season, Hughes had ridden 100 winners but was only third on the leaderboard, 24 winners behind Harry Skelton and 48 behind Johnson, who claimed the title for a fourth time.

Hughes finished the season in third with a career-best 146 winners, 120 of them coming at northern tracks. Support from trainers such as Donald McCain, Keith Dalgleish and Nicky Richards has helped him cement his position as the leading rider in the north.

That led to his having the second-highest amount of rides last season behind Johnson, and the trend has continued this campaign.

"I ride for a lot of good yards in the north and pick up a lot of rides for smaller trainers, so I'm kept quite busy. My rides come from various yards rather than one or two big ones, which is often the case for a lot of the southern-based lads."

Despite being level, Johnson remains favourite with bookmakers to retain his crown and is a best-priced 5-6 with Ladbrokes to do so, while Hughes was cut from 15-8 to 5-4 by Betway.

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