Howard Johnson

Soary Stars said:
Anyway, good news about HW.

Wonder what happened about 'that robbery' in his place ... never did hear anymore ... no suspects, then?
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Funny you should say that,I have posted the same question on Twitter. I never heard of anyone getting done for it.

Reports suggest he is to retire so hope he's put some funds aside for his retirement:ninja:
 
"Injury ruled the former Sir Mark Prescott-trained Inglis Drever out of the following year's renewal, but he returned in 2007 and 2008 to become the first horse to win the race three times.

The three wins came under different jockeys - Graham Lee, Paddy Brennan and Denis O'Regan - who all held the position of stable jockey at White Lea Farm, a role that has seen a high turnover of riders in a relatively short space of time."

High jockey turnover caught my eye.
 
Soary - remember the £100K in CASH allegedly stolen from the Johnson home? This led to a massive tax inquiry - not sure what came of that, though. Yes, surely everyone has a few thousand knocking around at home, just in case they run out of milk or fags? I'd say the code is that Mr J is well versed in stashing the cash! But as he's an ee-bah-gum Northerner, nobody's going to consider him on a par with the 'big divide' we've talked about re the Tottenham riots, are they? He's a very rich man and I'm sure he made sure he had his retirement well padded before this result came out.
 
Bar, nobody will forget he's a multiple G1 NH trainer, I'm sure, and he always presented himself as this affable, cheery chappie to the presenters on tv. But when a trainer of that talent - I'm assuming he really does do it, and it's not performed by some eminence grise in the background - turns round and implies that trainers and owners will stop at nothing to try to get wins, then you know something's also very wrong.

He has brought himself down, and there is no-one to blame. Maybe he got so caught up in presenting top horses that he felt it was an all-or-nothing scenario with them, but really, any trainer with an ounce of commonsense would not have done what he did.

Let's not forget also that this is the man who saw nothing wrong in putting up not just jockeys, but work riders, on a damaged horse. Had the horse given way on the gallops, the result could have been a serious injury or even fatality for the rider. But it seems that he was willing to risk that, and for that reason alone he's lost all credibility. A nasty and unnecessary demise of a decent stable - I assume all the workers are now out of jobs as a result, too, presumably leaving feeling slightly tainted.
 
This is from Mark Howard's website:

"Northern jump racing was dealt a further blow with the news that Howard Johnson has been banned for four years and therefore end his successful training career. I can only speak from a personal point of view and I am saddened by the whole story. Howard and the majority of his family (Sue his wife, Lucy his daughter in law and Ray Hawkey his father in law) have been very good to me and I have never found him other than helpful. His interviews have helped me sell a lot of books and, for that, I will always be grateful. Direct Route is and always will be my favourite horse and I was brought up watching his horses at tracks like Carlisle and Catterick when I first got into racing.
The media, especially the Racing Post, have taken every opportunity to stick the knife in with the article by Julian Muscat earlier in the year a disgrace. I have been approached in the past by the Post to see if I would contact Howard re a stable tour for their paper - he understandly declined. I spoke to one of Howard's former stable jockeys Denis O'Regan earlier this week and he was adamant Howard wouldn't have known about the treatment given to Striking Article and he was geninuely hoping he wouldn't be banned.
Chief patron Graham Wylie described the decision 'disgraceful' and it will be interesting to see what happens to the majority of his string. Half a dozen horses have headed to Paul Nicholls in Somerset and a large majority of the others are likely to go to sales. It will be interesting to see whether Graham, who has been a tremendous supporter in recent years of National Hunt racing, turns his back on the sport. I, for one, wouldn't blame him if he did. The north used to be a hotbed for jump racing with Arthur Stephenson, Peter Easterby, Jimmy FitzGerald, Howard Johnson and Gordon Richards ruling the roost. Those days, I suspect, have gone forever. The memory of Tidal Bay storming up the Cheltenham hill in the Arkle will never be erased though."


I must say I'm surprised at the tone. The fact that Johnson and his family may have been kind to him in the past is neither here nor there and I'm not sure that Denis O'Regan's views carry that much weight.


This story was one of the lead items on the flagship Radio 4 news programme at 5pm yesterday.
 
LEADING owner Graham Wylie is splitting his dramatically pared-down string between the champion trainers of Britain and Ireland following the enforced termination of his association with Howard Johnson, whose four-year ban from the sport begins on Friday.

After discussions with Johnson on Monday, Wylie is sending seven horses, including 2008 Arkle winner Tidal Bay, to Paul Nicholls, with the same number joining Willie Mullins in County Carlow.

His remaining 33 horses at Johnson's Crook yard are being sent to the sales, while 11 unraced horses will go to Ireland to start out in the point-to-point arena.

Wylie, who will have 13 horses with Nicholls, having sent a team of six to Ditcheat earlier in the month for reasons unconnected with Johnson's case, said: "I am coming down to 20 horses in training and I am going to have two trainers, the best in England and the best in Ireland."
 
"Paul will have 13 of the horses and Willie will train seven.

"Willie is going to have Back In Focus, Boston Bob, Felix Yonger, On His Own, Prince De Beauchene, Drive Time and Rupert Lamb.

"Paul has six horses already for me and the other seven are Tidal Bay, Tigre D'Aron, Zhakiera Spirit, Prospect Wells, Frankie Figg, Roger Beantown and Grandioso.

"All the rest of my horses will be going to the sales. I'm looking forward to the season."
 
Not surprising really that he's cutting back on numbers if his business venture(s) aren't doing well financially.
 
Presumably the Transcend Bloodstock horses will get sold too, as well as Johnson's own horses.
 
Mullins has forgotten more than Nicholls will ever know

£500k bluebloods who clean up in novices against donkeys and then mostly disappear in handicaps..... Let's see how things pan out now the big two are finished
 
harry said:
Mullins has forgotten more than Nicholls will ever know

£500k bluebloods who clean up in novices against donkeys and then mostly disappear in handicaps..... Let's see how things pan out now the big two are finished
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Well, apart from the Big 2, here are Mr. Nicholls' main achievements:

Big Buck’s…..12 consecutive wins, including seven Grade 1 wins (three of them World Hurdles).
9 Grade 1 chases, including two consecutive Queen Mum’s from age 5 with Master Minded
A Gold Cup, 2 King Georges and 12 other chases with See More Business, including races aged 12 and 13.
6 Grade 1 chases with Twist Magic
3 Grade 1 chases with Flagship Uberalles
A Queen Mother with Call Equiname
A Tingle Creek with Cenkos
2 Grade 1 chases with Le Roi Miguel
2 Grade 1 chases, and a number of Grade 2 chases with What A Friend
A Hennessy and a Feltham with Strong Flow
2 Supreme Novice Hurdles (Al Ferof and Noland)
2 Triumph Hurdles (Celestial Halo and Zarkandar, the latter of which won the Anniversary Hurdle
A Scottish National and two Scottish Grand Nationals
Challow Hurdles, Bet365 Gold Cups, County Hurdles, Tolworth Hurdles, Scilly Isle Chases, RSA Hurdles, a Boylesports Gold Cup, a Racing Post Chase and an Ascot Chase.
 
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