Johnson plots stable campaign
Trainer Howard Johnson has been outlining plans for his battalion of stable stars.
Johnson has a wealth of talent at his disposal this year with useful hurdler Inglis Drever and promising novice Bewleys Berry two of the leading lights in his yard.
The handler is considering trying to land the British Horseracing Board’s Order Of Merit with Inglis Drever.
A bonus of £50,000 (€73,000) is offer to the hurdler who scores the most points with the overall winning horse set to claim a further £200,000 (€291,800).
With Inglis Drever already having notched up 28 points with second places in both the Fighting Fifth and Bula Hurdles, Johnson could map out a campaign aimed at scooping the bonus prize.
He told At The Races: “We’ll organise them (his hurdling team) and I might go for the Order Of Merit with Drever to try and win myself 50 grand.
“Inglis Drever will be stepped up to two and a half miles. He will probably go to Haydock next in about three weeks’ time.”
The six-year-old Bewleys Berry made an impressive start to his hurdling career when trotting up by six lengths at Hexham last Wednesday.
Although Johnson believes the bumper and point-to-point winner will make a better chaser next season, he is eyeing a crack at the Red Square Vodka Prestige Novices’ Hurdle at Haydock on February 19 – a race he won last year with Royal Rosa.
“Bewleys Berry is a lovely horse,” said Johnson. “He’s an embryo chaser. We’ll just go for a couple of easy races or I might even dare put him in the race Royal Rosa won last year when he beat Fundamentalist at Haydock. He’ll be a grand three-mile horse.”
Johnson also has a useful-looking chaser on his hands in Lord Transcend who is on course for the Rowland Meyrick Chase at Wetherby on St Stephen's Day.
The seven-year-old was limited to just one start last season after suffering an injury but he made a more than satisfactory comeback with a decent fourth in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup last month.
However, Johnson is suffering from a jockey dilemma as stable rider Graham Lee is currently sidelined with a broken arm, while usual replacement Tony Dobbin is suspended that day.
“Lord Transcend schooled on Saturday morning over two fences and jumped great. It will be the Rowland Meyrick for him if I can get a suitable jockey,” confirmed Johnson.
“The problem is that Tony (Dobbin) is suspended that day, and Alan Dempsey and Graham Lee are both off injured.”
Johnson does look to have a particularly strong hand in the novice hurdling division and although he nominates yesterday’s Newcastle winner Arcalis and recent Haydock scorer Astronomic as his best at present, he still has a lot more ammunition up his sleeve.
“I’ve got a lot of lovely three-year-olds I bought at Newmarket and they will be out in the next fortnight, the main ones,” Johnson added.
“No Refuge will go to Warwick in the race Drever won last year (the Grade Two Pertemps Novices’ Hurdle).
“I’ve a lot of horses that haven’t run yet, it’s like seventh heaven at the minute. It’s not all glory though, a lot of horses go wrong. I had a good horse, The Reverend, that won at Carlisle, he beat that good horse of Mr Lungo’s with a double handful (Wild Cane Ridge) and he came back with two bits of heat in his legs, so I’ve had to stop him for the season.”
Royal Rosa, one of last season’s top staying novice hurdlers, is also on his way back to full fitness after suffering a minor setback.
Johnson is hoping to get a gallop into Royal Rosa at Ayr at the end of the year and added: “If he gallops well he’ll be all ready to go. He just knocked his joint and it took a long time to come right, but he’s cantering away now.”
