3 minute read

Jack Channon tasted Glorious Goodwood success for the first time when Johan dug deep to strike on his seasonal reappearance under James Doyle.

Stall eighteen looked potentially problematic for Johan but James Doyle had no trouble getting across from his wide berth and the pair managed to sit on the front end throughout.

The pace looked reasonably slack and many in behind failed to get on terms with those out in front, who certainly had an advantage. Jack Channon's six-year-old kicked for home off the front and hung on gamely to score by half a length.

Charlie Johnston, who has failed to get on the board this week, saddled the second and third with The Gatekeeper (14/1) coming home in front of the ever-so-consistent Dutch Decoy (11/1).

Darkness proved best of David O'Meara's runners back in fourth at 50/1.

Johan finished fourth in this contest back in 2021 off 1lb higher and is renowned for being best caught fresh, which was definitely the case on the Sussex Downs this afternoon.

Jack Channon said: "It's been a bit of a long road since the Lincoln last year, and we unearthed a little bit of an issue he had in his back sort of midway through last summer. We tried a few different things, but thanks to our brilliant vets at home, Charlie Schreiber in particular, we came up with a solution for it. We got it done in the spring and all summer he has been absolutely starting to just show himself to be the old horse. Coming into this week we sort of pin-pointed this race and thought this was going to be the perfect place to start, then when we got 18 I thought, 'Oh God, here we go'. He's a very, very talented horse and I was delighted to see him do that.

"To be able to produce it on the big days, I know I keep saying it, but Alana who rides him every day at home – she's done an amazing job on him – and all the guys who looked after him through that period where he was injured have done an amazing job. Just to be able to prove to everyone that you can. Dad's done it for 30 years, and to be able to prove to everyone that you can do it as well, it's a massive monkey off the back as it were.

He joked that "Dad tells me when I'm wrong all the time, basically!", before adding: "He's an integral part. I know I keep saying it, but that was a massive team performance from everyone at West Ilsley. He hasn't been the easiest to train and to produce him on a day like that was pretty special."

Winning jockey James Doyle added: "It couldn't have been more straightforward, to be honest. Obviously, the key points, looking through the race beforehand, it's unusual for a race like that to go through the race and there not be a lot of obvious pacemakers or genuine leaders. He is a very straightforward horse to ride, so we knew once we got that draw that there was only one thing for us to do really. I think on this testing conditions today and with the rail being back in the true position, I thought it would be very difficult to take your medicine and try and ride to come home especially with the lack of pace. So, it couldn't have gone much more straightforward. He bounced out the gates super quick, he needed to do that, and he did, which was super. We were able to float over next to Hector Crouch on Darkness, and we were able to just control the race. I was a bit of a safety car in second, I let Hector go as slow as he dared while being mindful that every now and again, I could feel them coming. It was quite a fun race to ride and very straightforward.

"Obviously you need a very willing partner, and I've known this horse for a number of years, ridden him when Haggas had him, the whole team has done a marvellous job, as he's been off the track for quite some time."

Paddy Power cut Johan from 33/1 to 14/1 for the Clipper Handicap at York next month.