Sidelined Richard Johnson hopes to be back on track on Tuesday

Richard Johnson stood himself down at Southwell on Sunday and gave up his rides at Market Rasen on Monday, but the four-time champion jockey has nothing more than a minor back complaint and expects to be back in action at Stratford on Tuesday.

Johnson, who was denied the chance to chase down Brian Hughes and claim a fifth title by the coronavirus pandemic which brought last season to an early close, pulled up his first ride at Southwell and gave up his remaining mounts due to the niggle.

"To be perfectly honest I don't know exactly what I've done, my back was sore on Saturday but I thought it'd be okay to ride at Southwell," said Johnson, who turns 43 on Tuesday. "I had my first ride and it just wasn't right, so I gave up my rides yesterday and had treatment from the physio at the racecourse.

"It's better today but it's just not 100 per cent and I don't want to go to the races like that – you want to do a good job – so I've left it today. I'm hoping to be back tomorrow.

"I've obviously strained or tweaked something in my back, even the physio couldn't quite work out why I was sore, but it's nothing serious and it's just unfortunate I couldn't ride yesterday or today. Fingers crossed I'll be at Stratford tomorrow."

Johnson was due to ride the Olly Murphy-trained Craigmor in the 2.10 at Market Rasen and partner Tom Lacey's Black Anthem in the 3.10 – he has been replaced by Aidan Coleman and Jonathan Burke respectively.

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