Mark of disapproval

Lydia Hislop13 April 2012

Trainer Mark Johnston has two leading chances of winning the race he advised his owners to avoid. Win or lose Saturday's Vodafone Derby, the outspoken Scot says it won't change his controversial view. Yet even he can't help but acknowledge victory would make his 2002 an even more extraordinary year.

With each day, the Middleham trainer feels the sharp injustice of a system he first railed against on Standard Sport's pages in March. Mischievous fate ensured it became the hottest debate in racing when, enjoying his best-ever season, he promptly won three of the four premier Derby trials with as many different horses.

None of them - Sandown Classic Trial winner Simeon, Chester Vase victor Fight Your Corner or Lingfield Derby Trial hero Bandari - was entered in the Epsom classic as yearlings. Stablemates Love Regardless and Stunning Force were, but as three-year-olds passed unmentioned in Derby dispatches.

Neither was that trio added at the second-entry stage - crucially dated two months ago, prior to their Trial successes - along with stable companion, Sir George Turner. Last Saturday's £90,000 supplementary stage was the sole remaining recourse.

That this action was definitively taken only when Bandari and Fight Your Corner were bought last month by members of the mighty Maktoum family - Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum respectively - can be used both to prove and disprove Johnston's contention.

He had argued only the likes of the Maktoums, Coolmore, the Aga Khan and Prince Khalid Abdulla - to name but four of this sport's biggest hitters - could afford to optimistically block-enter yearlings or add three-year-olds before the Derby trials are run, or shell out a last-resort £90,000 on a more proven performer.

Instead, Simeon took what his handler deems the less financially prohibitive French Derby route, finishing third to Sulamani four days ago. The original owners of Johnston's Epsom duo can have no complaints: thanks to him, they have no entry costs to subtract from profit on the sale of their Derby prospects.

Yet by not making use of April's second-entry stage at the very least, Johnston has inadvertently exposed himself to the greatest risk. Something as innocuous as a cough or stone-bruise between now and Saturday wastes £90,000 per colt in one hit. "That Epsom charges £90,000 for supplementary entries and asks you to pay seven days before the race makes me wonder whether they understand all the little things that can go wrong with a horse in a week," fumed Johnston.

"After all, there's no ambiguity at this stage over whether a horse is going to run. For the sake of antepost betting, I understand some commitment to run is required. But why not ask for £5,000 a week in advance and the remaining £85,000 - if it must be that much - at the declaration stage 48 hours before the race?

"At no point does the Derby entrysystem concern itself with getting the best horses to run. Even the second-entry stage in April is too early and too much at £9,000, particularly given there's another £11,500 still to come for those horses near the end of May.

"The Derby is still right up there in terms of prestige," he concedes. "I'd feel great if we won the Derby, but it wouldn't alter my complaint."

That he prefers his horses to front run, rather than be held up, is another misconception about Johnston. Just because Fight Your Corner finished strongly from a slow start at Chester last time and Bandari raced handily at Lingfield doesn't mean we'll see those tactics replicated on Saturday.

"I will say to Kevin Darley (Fight Your Corner's jockey) and Richard Hills (Bandari) 'don't get dragged into the idea that these two horses are so different'," he asserts.

"I'm a strong believer in jockeys not positioning themselves in relation to other horses - in other words, we run against the clock and don't worry about the opposition. We'll be going out there and pretending it's not the Derby."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in