When posters on the racing forums and Twitter posted links and encouraged others to listen to Mark Johnston appearing as the main guest on last week's Luck on Sunday, the temptation was to not even give it a brief viewing, particularly as the title to the link indicated it was going to be a predictable father gives son more responsibility, with the odd ticking off if he gets too big for his boots, and so forth.
But for those of us who clicked on the link believing they'd give the blah blah blah thirty seconds then do away with it had their cynically whipped egg left on their faces for this was one of the best interviews of its kind for a long, long time, with some unashamedly to the core opinion on the big trainer versus little trainer arguments.
There was no Charlie love in at all - just an acknowledgement that that his workload involves, amongst other things, time consuming office roles and that their yearling sales modus operandi continues as before with only animals out of black type performing dams considered, and that no yearlings are viewed that don't fit the catalogue criteria.
Johnston had stated similar before and has confessed to being irate when people interpret this approach as a partial confession that he lacks an eye for a yearling. It's certainly food for thought though and baffling in the sense that the great majority of onlookers would pay more interest to an animal sired by a middling stallion but one who has sold for four times the price than the covering fee, as opposed to a horse sired by a stallion covering for over a hundred grand, out of a Group 2 winning mare who fetches thirty grand in the ring as a yearling.
The general consensus would be that the former has impressed those with an 'eye' in that he posseses the conformation to make a proper racehorse, while the latter has severe confirmation faults that cast doubt on the type of animal he will make up into.
Opening up a copy of Horses In Training and selecting one of many examples with this in mind, one will note that Johnston has a juvenile in training named Super Stars, conceived when his sire Sea The Stars was covering for a fee of 135,000 Euro, and out of a mare who was fourth in a Listed race. Despite these credentials Super Stars fetched only just over 32,000 in the ring as a yearling. Logic shouts that this animal can't have been the most pleasing looker when he went through the ring, so it will be fascinating to see what sort of animal he makes up into.
Johnston later repeated what many have felt is an issue that makes the sport poorer - too much racing, and not just at the basement level. We know that the Pattern system spiraled out of control many years back which no doubt he was referring to by saying at the top end of the sport there are three races for one horse instead of one race for three horses.
The trainer also criticised the approach of the sport looking after the interests of the lowest common demoninator, being of the opinion that there are too many operators. This observation no doubt would have made plenty of small handlers cringe, particularly some of those who supported the action against the Arena Leisure courses in demand for more prize money - indeed if Johnston's view is shared by some of the other successful operators, you wonder whether some of them who took part 'used' the smaller handlers for their own agendas.
And not unconnected, it was riveting to hear the Kingsley House boss adamently maintain that as horses are herd animals they benefit from being trained in large strings and did not subscribe to the view of those who manage small yards, particularly those situated away from the major training centres, that horses benefit from being treated separately as individuals with individually tailored routines.
Not all would agree - the late Glamorgan based trainer Bryn Palling would purchase cast offs from the bigger yards and go about 'sweetening' them up. He purchased regularly from Henry Cecil's yard at the Horses In Training Sales and did have some success though as is common knowledge Cecil worked his horse hard, wringing every pound of ability out of them, thus nurturing some improvement from his former inmates must have been like squeezing blood from a stone. I am also certain that Ian Williams would not be anywhere near agreeing with the Scotsman.
In contrast it's well documented how well numerous animals who have been in training with Sir Mark Prescott do in the hurdling sphere when purchased at the Horses In Training Sales, many of them clearly not bottomed and with mileage left that would not be apparent by simply matching number of appearances with other sales graduates.
This however is partly be design as Prescott likes the big scope types that will catch the eye of the jumping trainers, at the same time giving his owners a sell on value - still, it's testament to his training skills that he typically progresses an animal to his ceiling rating in handicaps, whIle at the same time leaving a healthy, happy horse able to go on and successfully build a career over hurdles - the amazing Inglis Drever (pictured) being a classic example.
Back to the Mark Johnston interview that was a hosts dream - one of his parting shots was the incredible statement that punters don't contribute much to the sport. It was regrettable that this happened during the later stages of the interview as we could have expected Luck to broach open the subject rather than just doubting the validity of those words.
No doubt he would have pointed out that it's not only the substantial amount of punters money harvested through the Levy, but also the media rights payments in the sense that these would not exist if punters did not bet as like it or not racing exists because of betting, not vice versa, and there would be no demand for pictures if bets could not be made. Hopefully, this is something that will be heading the discussion when Johnston makes his next guest appearance on the show.
image taken by author
From the best album of one of the most popular Glam Pop acts at the height of that brand of music's time - racing may have not been without problems at the time but it was less crammed and in a better place than it is now.
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