Title talk: why Brian Hughes is not thinking about first championship just yet

Brian Hughes is putting off thoughts of a title challenge until Christmas – despite statistics suggesting he is in pole position to dethrone Richard Johnson.

From the start of November through to the season's close in April, Hughes has ridden more winners than Johnson in two of the last three campaigns – by 18 winners in 2016-17 and 13 the following campaign. And while Johnson just had the better of it last season, Hughes was stopped in his tracks by a nasty fall that saw him benched for the whole of April.

The issue for Hughes has always been that Johnson has outshone him in the summer months, but that's not been the case this time and the difference between them is negligible – just four winners before racing on Friday – as we hit the core part of the campaign.

"I didn't know that," he said this week when told of the statistics. "Yes, I've had quite a quick start this year, although last year was quite good too as I recall. I'm probably a few winners ahead this time. I think Dickie [Johnson] has had more rides but I'm not watching him every day. At this stage you don't think about the championship at all. The busiest part of the season is ahead of us."

Forest Bihan: another winner for Brian Hughes at Aintree last weekendCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Hughes added: "Let's see where we are at Christmas. If you're in contention you'd put it to the forefront of your mind. Part of not thinking about it is to avoid putting myself under pressure. When you start to force the situation, you start making mistakes. You try too hard and overthink things."

Hughes’ first target is to beat the tally of Jonjo O’Neill, who rode 149 winners in 1977-78 and was the last northern-based rider to claim the title when winning it for the second time two years later.

"Even though I got injured in April, I still had my best year last season with 146 winners. Jonjo rode 149 when based in the north, so my next target is to ride 150 winners."

Read more from Brian Hughes in The Big Read at racingpost.com from 6pm on Saturday