CHARLIE'S IN CHARGE

Nick Townsend talks to a trainer who is fast making a name for himself

- Nick Townsend

Maybe he has not spent quite as many years as his Royal namesake did in awaiting his coronation. But for Charlie Johnston it has also been a near lifetime of preparation before finally taking the throne at Middleham after succeeding his record-breaking father Mark this year.

As his mother Deirdre once told me: “It would be fair to say that Charlie posted his job application at the age of five!”

Today, the 32-year-old himself concurs with that assessment. “People say to me ‘Were you always going to do this?’ And I think the honest answer is probably yes,” he says. “I don’t remember any point in my life when I was on any other path than this end goal. It’s been a long time in the making, so I certainly haven’t been pushed in the deep end, that’s for sure.”

In truth, he has been the de facto guv’nor of Kingsley House Stables, located on the North Yorkshire moors, for some years. And yet, you remind him, it is one hell of a power-shift; from being his father’s assistant after returning to the yard in 2015 as a qualified vet, to holding a joint licence with him last year, and now to having ultimate responsibility for the stable’s charges.

And, remember, this is not just any racing establishment but a behemoth of a training facility; one which has been created from the dilapidated stables Johnston Snr bought in 1988 to one which now stables around 240 horses in three yards.