'It's exciting' - Johnson White relishing joint-licence with Philip Hobbs

Philip Hobbs's longtime assistant Johnson White is excited about the imminent prospect of joining his prolific boss on the training licence.

White was speaking to the Racing Post as part of a major feature in Sunday's Racing Post in which Hobbs revealed his pride at becoming just the fourth jumps trainer in Britain to reach 3,000 winners, a landmark achieved with Zanza at Newbury last month, and discussed the reasons for a tough couple of seasons and plans to turn those fortunes around.

Central to those plans is taking out a joint-licence with 49-year-old White, who has been a key cog of the Sandhill engine room ever since his first encounter with Hobbs provided a reality check.

"I came to ride out for the guv'nor in the school holidays when I would have been 14 or 15," he said. "I'd have been watching [Richard] Dunwoody, [John] Francome, [Steve] Smith-Eccles, all that lot and you think, 'That's what I want to do.' I got out of the car and my mum introduced me to Sarah [Hobbs] and the guv'nor, who asked what I wanted to do when I was older.

"I said I wanted to be a jockey and he looked at my feet [size 12] and said I had absolutely no chance! My dreams were dashed very early on."

White has now been with Hobbs for nearly 30 years and promotion alongside the main man is finally close to hand.

"Philip and Sarah have been fantastic to work for and it's been discussed for a number of years me joining the licence at some stage. To start with, it was fairly loosely, but, as time has gone on, it's been discussed more seriously.

"It then became apparent the guv'nor wasn't too far away from training 3,000 winners. Quite rightly, he wanted to achieve it because, as soon as I join the licence, it goes back to nought. He was keen to get the 3,000 in his own name and I wasn't going to stand in the way of such an incredible achievement, but the wheels were very much in motion and we're just waiting to hear when. Hopefully it won't be long, which is exciting."

Read more from Philip Hobbs and Johnson White in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

Read these next:

'Livid' Paul Nicholls hits out at BHA over timing of new whip rules 

'He won't make it' - Jack Kennedy ruled out of Cheltenham Festival 

Festival subscription offer | 50% off three months 

It's festival time – get 50% off for three months! Now is the perfect time to subscribe and lock in 50% off your first three months, so you can take advantage of all the great content we've got coming up. To redeem this offer, head to the checkout and enter the code FESTIVAL23 at the payment screen to unlock your discount*. Subscribe now. Available to new subscribers purchasing Members' Club Ultimate Monthly using code FESTIVAL23. First three payments will be charged at £19.98, subscription renews at full monthly price thereafter. Customers wishing to cancel will need to contact us at least seven days before their subscription is due to renew.