Our questions are answered by the Middleham-based trainer, who tok over from his record-breaking father Mark in 2023.
No-one has trained more winners in British racing than the formidable figure of Mark Johnston – but his son Charlie is now at the helm of the Kingsley Park operation in North Yorkshire.
What is more, the 35-year-old came close to achieving something his father never did this summer with Lazy Griff, who finished second in the Epsom Derby before a third in the Irish equivalent.
Mark Johnston never landed the Derby, but his CV includes Classic glory – most notably in the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas with Attraction and Mister Baileys respectively, and in France with Shamardal – and in 2018 he became the most prolific trainer in Britain when Poet's Society became his 4,194th winner.
Johnston snr reached 5,000 in 2022, by which time he was training in partnership with his son. Dad retired at the end of that year, leaving his son in sole charge.
Looking at progress in 2025, Charlie reflects: “It’s been a good season – we’re in the 130s winner-wise, which means we’ve already passed last year’s score and it’s the same on prize-money.
“It’s good to have that positive trajectory on those metrics, but we’ve hit the post at the highest level with Lazy Griff and Venetian Lace, who was second in the Fillies’ Mile. If one of those had hit the target it would have turned a good year into a great one, but I’m happy with our body of work.”
A setback meant Lazy Griff missed the St Leger, for which he was well fancied, but recent surgery in Newmarket has gone well. Whether he is campaigned as a mile-and-a-half horse next year or goes over further is an “interesting discussion” for next spring, says his trainer.
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
It’s probably boring but I don’t think many have reached the heights that Dad (right) did, to go from training three horses on a beach in Lincolnshire with no start in the industry to being the winningmost trainer in British history is unparalleled.
When I was in my teens, having 200 winners a year seemed easy, but now I’m at the helm, I’ve greater appreciation of his achievements.
Outside of him though, it would be AP McCoy for his will to win and how he would ride through the pain.
Which is your favourite venue, and race, anywhere in the world?
I’d only go racing socially to York or Cheltenham, but if I was taking a new owner racing for the first time it would be to Glorious Goodwood, which is difficult to top, albeit only when the weather’s nice! As a spectacle and for atmosphere it’s my favourite, and I’ve plenty of fond childhood memories there.
If you were asking me which race I’d most like to win, it would be whatever is the most valuable, but having hit the crossbar in the Derby this year, and seeing what it did for mine and the yard’s profile, it’s only fuelled the ambition to go one better at some point.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
It might be an odd or left-field one, but it’s a horse called Road To Love, whom Dad trained in the noughties. I’d just started riding out and would ride him a lot, and I remember saying to Richard Hills the key was to start front-running on him. He did that and they then won a big handicap at Glorious Goodwood by five lengths – a week after they’d won by seven lengths, making all at Ascot. I loved riding him and finding that key to him.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
I was probably too young to appreciate Dad’s Attraction/Shamardal era, so Subjectivist winning the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in 2021. By then, I was heavily involved and he’d picked up a potentially serious injury when he won the Dubai Gold Cup a few months before, so it was a good feat to get him to Ascot in such fine form.
Then his performance was brilliant too; it was a great front-running ride by Joe Fanning and some might want to win other races at that meeting but for us the Gold Cup is one of the most prestigious and special races there is.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
The fixture list in Britain. I’d have less racing but better racing on a Sunday because I feel that’s a wasted window in this country compared to elsewhere. If there was better racing on a Sunday, you could maybe have a blank day on a Monday or Tuesday, when it’s generally poorer racing anyway and not many people go or watch it.
Charlie Johnston was speaking to James Burn
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