Permian has the Mark of class
Johnston’s bid to finally land Derby
TWO very different numbers for one trainer whose career can be described as remarkable, even when studied with the most coldblooded objectivity.
On Saturday, Mark Johnston will try to win his first Investec Derby at Epsom, with Permian, a colt who will be ridden by William Buick and was not even on his trainer’s Classic radar six weeks ago.
Then, assuming he maintains his rate of producing winners, Johnston will join the 4,000-winner club this autumn. He needs 141 more.
It is a club which, in British training terms, numbers only two retired grandees of the sport, Richard Hannon Snr and Martin Pipe.
Johnston runners have been winning since he took out a licence to train 12 horses in Lincolnshire in 1987 when visits to his shoreline gallops had to be carefully timed given the Ministry of Defence also used the area as a bombing range.
Permian, who will be added to the Epsom line-up at a cost of £85,000, will be only Johnston’s fifth Derby starter and his first since 2006.
People tend to make assumptions about Johnston. The Scot excels at Royal Ascot, where his 39 wins dwarf the tallies of some high-profile colleagues.
The notion that he is best at training staying horses is supported by three wins in the marathon Ascot Gold Cup, but would ignore his wins in the 2,000 Guineas with Mister Baileys in 1994, and the 1,000 Guineas with Attraction in 2004. Then there is the betting shop mantra that his horses are tough.
Johnston said: ‘The myth about toughness comes from people being used to seeing our horses lead, get headed and come back again. But there are desperate misconceptions about how races are run. You can’t say horses never accelerate but mostly it is horses slowing down less than the rest.
‘The most efficient way to run is at a constant speed. If a horse makes a huge effort to come from two or three lengths behind you, they need to accelerate and the consequence will be a rapid deceleration after that effort. If the post doesn’t come right then, the horse doing the constant speed will come back. We do that so consistently people say our horses are tough. My instructions are: bowl along at the speed the horse is happiest. I don’t want pushing or pulling.’
The same philosophy was adopted by 15-time champion jumps trainer Pipe. Johnston, who has trained more than 100 winners for a record 23 straight seasons, added: ‘Martin Pipe was my idol. He was a gamechanger.
I looked at what he was doing and it made sense.’
Permian, who unusually for a modern-day Derby hope will arrive at Epsom having raced 10 times, started his 2017 season with a third place in a handicap at Bath. Huge strides have followed. Beaten a short-head by Cracksman at Epsom in April, Permian streaked home at Newmarket at the start of this month. The decision to go for Epsom was confirmed when Permian won the Dante Stakes. Johnston said: ‘Not many Derby winners start off their seasons in a handicap but his form since has been at a different level.
‘At Epsom we got the run of the race against Cracksman. We held him in and he did well to get out and just beat us. You’d expect him to improve for that run but everyone can see Permian has also come on. On that basis Permian deserves to be there and has a real chance.’