Sole ownership by private individuals is still the most common form of ownership of racehorses in Britain despite the current emphasis on marketing of partnerships and syndicates. The same applies at Mark Johnston Racing. The majority of our horses are owned by individuals, companies, and small select partnerships. We, therefore, take great care to ensure that such owners are properly catered for and are given personal attention to suit all their requirements.

At Mark Johnston Racing we are constantly trying to improve the quality of the bloodstock we train. In order to do this we want to encourage owners to buy and/or breed better quality stock and to give us the privilege of training and caring for them. Mark well recognises that it is essential to obtain value for money when buying new stock and so, while he would dearly love the opportunity to spend more at the sales and to compete on level terms with other trainers, he has developed a reputation for obtaining bargains and for buying well within owners’ budgets.

Mark was the sixth leading trainer (prize money won) overall for the years 1994-1999 inclusive. This was achieved with horses whose average cost as yearlings was just 20,328 guineas (based on prices of all horses which were presented at public auction and listed in Raceform’s Horses in Training publication). This compares with average figures for the others in the top six ranging from 55,022 guineas to 197,185 guineas. We can’t help but wonder what Mark could do if he had even half as much to spend as his nearest rival.

At Mark Johnston Racing we believe in trying to offer a full service to our owners who are looking to buy yearlings and, thus, to save owners the considerable costs of agents, outside veterinary surgeons etc.. We take great care to cover every detail and we will have at least one person working full time on pedigree research and catalogue updates from the time yearling sale catalogues are available until the end of the sales.

At the sales themselves Mark will usually work with a team of two or three people which will often include another veterinary surgeon in addition to Mark himself. All prospective purchases are thoroughly examined and discussed before Mark makes the final evaluation and decides to bid.

All expenses for the team and the catalogue preparation are met by Mark Johnston Racing and the service is offered to our owners free of charge. There is no commission or profit taken on purchases. Not even where Mark Johnston Racing has staked its own capital to purchase horses before passing them on to owners.

A fax or e mail list of horses which have been purchased by Mark and which are available for resale (to be trained by MJR) is distributed to prospective owners during the sales. Please let us know if you would like to receive that list.