Mark Johnston, racehorse trainer

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2020

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

Racehorse trainer Mark Johnston is a lynchpin of British flat racing. In August 2018 - when 20-1 shot Poet's Society, ridden by Frankie Dettori, streaked to victory at York - Mark became the most prolific winning trainer in British racing history, saddling 4,194 winners. Based in a 300-acre training yard in Yorkshire, he has never trained fewer than 100 winners each season for the last 26 years including champions such as Attraction, Mister Baileys, Double Trigger and Shamardal. Mark grew up on a council estate in East Kilbride and learned to ride when he was a child. His father was a horse lover who enjoyed a flutter and took the young Mark to the bookies when he placed his bets - although Mark was too young to go inside. As a 14-year-old Mark raced whippets and later studied veterinary medicine at Glasgow University but his dream was always to become a racehorse trainer. In 1986, together with his wife and business partner Deirdre, Mark bought his first yard. He had no money or connections in the racing world and had three-and-a-half paying horses rather than the 12 he needed under the terms of his trainer's licence. In these early days, the horses trained on a nearby beach that doubled up as an MOD bombing range. Johnston horses are known for their front-running style - he believes races aren't won by horses accelerating and passing the other runners, but when the horses in front slow down. He says: "I tell my jockeys to bowl along at the speed the horse is happiest." DISC ONE: Get Down and Get With It by Slade DISC TWO: Pencil Full of Lead by Paolo Nutini DISC THREE: You May Be Right by Billy Joel DISC FOUR: You're Still The One by Deirdre and Angus Johnston DISC FIVE: Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits DISC SIX: I Knew the Bride Dave Edmunds DISC SEVEN: Not Ready to Make Nice by Dixie Chicks DISC EIGHT: Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac BOOK CHOICE: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas LUXURY ITEM: A pair of binoculars CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:04.9	Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Disks Podcast.
0:08.6	Every week I ask my guests to choose the 8 tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them
0:13.9	if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:16.4	And for right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
0:21.2	I hope you enjoy listening.
0:30.0	Music Radio Music
0:44.2	My cast away this week is the race horse trainer Mark Johnston.
0:47.9	A linchpin of British flat racing he has more British winnestay's name than any trainer in history.
0:54.4	His 300-day-care training yard currently has 280 horses and an internationally recognised
1:00.6	reputation for excellence. And it runs on a system he devised which was revolutionary in British horse racing.
1:07.6	It's a far cry from his early days back then he was a vet with three and a half paid up horses
1:13.4	and a dubious patch of training ground on a beach that doubled as an M.O.D. bombing range.
1:18.4	The first time he and Deirdre, his wife and business partner, took a horse to new market,
1:23.3	they were such outsiders that they ate their pre-race picnic in the car park,
1:27.8	though the experience was made a lot sweeter when they took home first place.
1:32.8	He's been running winners ever since. In August 2018, when 21-shot Poets Society,
1:38.8	written by Frankie Ditori, straight to victory at York, Mark became the most prolific winning trainer
1:44.9	in British racing history, saddling 4,194 winners. He says,
1:51.1	I have never been content. Never been someone who's been satisfied to have his life mapped out
1:56.1	and know where he was going. What his wages were going to be. What his pension was going to be.
2:00.6	I've never been content with my lot. I always want more. Mark Johnston welcomed to desert island discs.
	...

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