Record breaker looks to new horizons with strong squad

A spate of records tumbled last year as Mark Johnston posted his best-ever season. He set new benchmarks by winners (226) and prize-money (£4.329 million), while on August 23 he surpassed Richard Hannon snr’s career haul of 4,193 winners to become the most prolific trainer in British racing history.

He also saddled Dee Ex Bee to finish runner-up in the Derby. That colt returns in 2019, for which Johnston has assembled as strong a team of older horses as he can recall. Others scheduled to return this year are Elarqam and Mildenberger, whose season was curtailed by injury after he ran second in the Dante.

The core of Johnston’s older-horse strength lies in his collection of promising stayers. Not since the golden days of Double Trigger and Double Eclipse has the trainer been so spoiled for choice. “It’s very exciting to have so many of them rated between 100 and 110, and I’m expecting some of the four-year-olds to improve again,” he says.