Royal Ascot has always been a special meeting for Mark Johnston. Having trained 28 winners there over the years and having failed to record a win at the meeting just once since 1994, the yard looks forward to a special week each year and this year was no different. Highlights over the years have been provided by such illustrious MJR inmates as Attraction, Bijou d’Inde, Double Trigger, Royal Rebel and Fruits of Love, so hopes were high that this year’s team might make their own mark in our Ascot history book.

Alas this year’s meeting was to prove a great disappointment to the yard. Shaweel and Harwalla finished down the field in Tuesday’s Coventry Stakes; Effort made a bold bid to land the Windsor Castle Stakes but eventually finished fourth; Dubai’s Touch faded into midfield in the Royal Hunt Cup; Thebes and Love Galore failed to fire in the Britannia; Drill Sergeant and Missioner couldn’t land the King George V Stakes; newcomer Nahoodh made a bold bid from the front in the Coronation Stakes only to be overhauled by the first four in the closing stages; Captain Webb and Age of Reason finished nearer last than first in the Queen’s Vase; Laa Rayb, Lovelace and Prince of Light couldn’t quite get the better of a massive field for the Buckingham Palace Stakes, and Pegasus Lad wasn’t able to persist with his effort after leading the way in the Chesham Stakes. So, it was to prove a second blank meeting for the yard, the last having come ten years ago in 1998.

We asked Mark recently for his retrospective on the meeting. “Of course it was desperately disappointing,” he told us. “Going into the meeting we had no real bankers, though perhaps Captain Webb was our best chance in the Queen’s Vase. Clearly Captain Webb, Age of Reason and Pegasus Lad ran below form in their races, but it’s hard to say whether any of the others did, or at least it’s open to debate whether they did. That said, it was still disappointing not to have at least one winner or to win with an outsider.”

Commenting on former star Campanologist’s win in the King Edward VII Stakes, Mark enthused: “I was delighted about Campanologist’s win and I congratulated the Godolphin team on the day. You could say he saved the day for us as his success showed our main owner that the yard is still doing a job for him in unearthing horses good enough to win at that level.” Mark didn’t say so in as many words, but we have a sneaking suspicion his main goal during July will be to turn Ascot angst into Goodwood glory!