yes wasn't moving well a long way out

thought he should have got that home

ok i need a lie down of course it was franny on this one.

will put up a p&l every sunday

I've only done 3 so far, the first won (i backed it at 7's but it was supported into about 6.3 i think).Of the 2 today one flopped completely a 3yo against it's elders perhaps not the time to be doing that, not sure it was fit or the track suited but there you go it was a risk.The other one with a stronger effort from the saddle would have won and got done a sh hd on the post.

So no need to panic just yet

I follow him closely at Goodwood and the few weeks either side of that. I posted all my goodwood bets last year and the other odd Johnston fancy later in the season. Can't remember exactly what I made on him but it was a decent green. I'll chip in here if this thread is still going or make a new one for The Goodwood festival.

You'll do your head in though following all his runners and attempting to make sense out of it. He has a ridiculous number of 2 yearolds and when he does run his other horses it's not usually to win

Frankuus johhny

all these runners today but don't have an angle on any, class for most a bit high on what i am looking for and nothing qualifies.

cue the four timer

most on here will be class 4-6 dibdob

but his tipping record aint that great

very true mine either

Ran ok dealer if you take out duffield's

@ Stridingedge. You don't fancy betting on the higher rated horses or you just don't wanna include them is this thread? BTW Revolutionist at a big price probably ran the best race of all his runners today. 3rd in a class 2 beating some good horses.

I turned a profit last year on Johnstons  horses mostly because of his success with his 4 year old and older horses in handicaps. I think his priorities may lay elsewhere this year so I don't feel as confident with that bunch this year. His class 4to6 runners were a complete mystery to me so I will follow this thread with keen interest.

am starting to think he is getting more like hannon with his 2 years olds
now that he has shall we say better quality ones , he does not have them wound up like elastic bands anymore with the hole season ahead !

twaaaaaaannnnnngggggg

Dibdob

I seem to recall MJ's interviews in the past just how much he liked Goodwood. He always had a good few runners at the festival.

might be a goodwood type later in season, certainly can win one of these class 2's on that.Hadn't done too much wrong just a poor run on bad ground lto.He does well with cape cross's as 3yo's.

dibdob I certainly won't be averse to some selections in the higher classes (especially at bigger odds) as each horse has to be taken on it's merits but class 4-6 is where i see his patterns the most that have been upheld nearly every season with certain types, of course still have to filter out enough wheat from the chaff but they are my main sample to look at.

For his 3 runners tomorrow I could see cases made for 2 of them. Although it is pretty thin.

Alwalaa in the 2.20. Unraced 2 yearold running in a class 6 with a few better entries later in the year. Son of Elzaam who himself one first time out. 2 other 2 yearolds by Elzaam ran first time out last month and both finished 2nd. Favourite in the market so hopefully it runs well. 9/4

Ravenhoe in the 2.55. Hasn't done much since winning a couple of times as a 2 yearold and has been dropping down the ratings steadily since. Ran 2 average races this year on the all weather and soft going and will now be running on better ground (hopefully) and dropping down into a class 5 race for the first time. Best chance it's had of winning in a long time. A good price at 6/1 But I like my Johnston runners in double figures.

Freight Train 3.30. This horse is complete guess work for me,  but it's running over a more suitable distance this time and dropped down a few pounds. 10/1

I might put in a little patent bet given I missed out on the double last week. Nothing serious though.

Could easily come a cropper today at Beverley.

3 runners on the card...

Certainly have no angle on Alwalaa in the novice race. Un raced from a first crop sire this season, 8-51 debutants (1-4 novice races) 3-18 of these firdt timers have won over the 5f. Of course we know MJ has had some nice 2yo's out already so has yardsticks but everyone knows this and it will be interesting what the market makes of this race nearer the off, for punting purposes just don't have a way in here.

Yesterday afternoon when looking through this card both of the remaining entries were head scratchers.Ravenhoe , The fact it's a 3yo running at this track is a good starting point and a positive in itself,MJ gets a lot of winners sent to this track for the first time too.This is not the usual MO though, most sent here are unexposed and certainly unexposed trip wise.Ravenhoe has not won for just over a year and has subsequently fallen down the weights to drop into a 0-75 for the first time.He has not seen this sort of surface since last august when rated 84 and last summer a couple of his efforts in 0-95 company would make him a very tough target to beat.This is the type that Omeara or Appleby seem to revive on a regular basis, given a modest over all record (9-122) for MJ with these 3yo's that haven't won for so long it is worth pointing out that the 2 sprinters that lined up with such a profile as 3yo's both won (Storm Moon 11/10f, Peterkin 3/1).

MJ is also decent with his 4yo's here in the 4yo+ hcps (10-39) (8-26 class 4's). I'm not that taken with manduro's progeny past the age of 3.Of course all horses must be taken on their merits and Freight Train is the runner in the 10f hcp.Quite lightly raced for an MJ horse with only 10 runs on the board (2 wins from 8 on turf).Managed to win a better looking on paper 0-85 race at redcar over today's trip off 72 with a similar short interlude as today's race from it's last run.I don't think this horse has any problems with attitude, i mentioned on here last week i didn't think it would probably have the toe for 9f round musselburgh and after travelling well to 2 out just didn't look to have the gears of the finishers, weakening inside the last to be beaten around 5l.There is every chance this horse like plenty of it's sires progeny will not age too well but given the over all profile and as it's so lightly raced at this age i am prepared to give it a chance around 8/1 plus stepping back up in trip on this stiffer track.Omeara's runner on it's 2nd start for him is taking a big chunk of the market here and has to be respected and there is plenty of course form on offer with the other runners if his misfires.

VERDICT:

Two very marginal cases today, they don't scream back me like some of his runners will profile wise in the coming months but 2:55 beverley Ravenhoe at 5/1 plus and 3:30 Freight Train 8/1 plus were both worth taking a punt on on balance at these sorts of prices.

Heraldic in the 4.55 at Chester is available at 18.0 on here. Not fancied by the market, but I think it could go well. Decent form on the all weather and 7 lengths behind the 2000g winner on his only turf last year. Hoping for a big run!

This selection is slightly higher than the class I would usually be focussing on but Bathos in double figure prices on here is quite strong in a number of factors I use to analyze his runners.On the face of it, it looks like it could be overly exposed in this sort of shape of race but MJ has a decent record squeezing further improvement out of a lot of his 3yo's that were multiple winners the previous campaign. In races where plenty of the opposition have had less than 5 runs and Mj's has had more experience, the record in this class is fine so i'll trust his placement. Mulrennan  has been used to good effect for this yard so far and indeed was in the winners for MJ last night so i see nothing wrong with this booking at all.I like the slight class drop angle as this often is seen to good effect in hcps with this yards runners.

There are a couple of slight issues.Firstly this horse has done it's winning off of shorter lay offs than this, the yard will usually like to get them back racing sooner than this and this has been the case with this selection.The other issue is last time it lost it's chance from the stalls when partnered by adrian nicholls, it reared and lost plenty of ground. In a few of it's early runs it was a bit slowly away so I'm hoping there is no issue of temperament this season, it certainly didn't look to have any problems at 2 but you never know as some horses age they can develop these issues, it's just a slight worry here.

Anyway happy to play this one today at around the current odds of 12.0 1:40 Haydock Bathos

gl all