Nick Seddon reports
Mark Johnston has admitted that he and his team are rather working on borrowed time with star stayer Subjectivist, who will bid to repeat his heroics of two years ago in Saturday’s Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup sponsored by Al Tayer Motors.
The six year old was in stunning form before being forced off the track for more than 18 months due to a tendon injury, backing up a five and three quarter length victory in the 2021 renewal of this race with a breathtaking success in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup three months later.
The son of Teofilo made his return at last month’s Saudi Cup meeting, finishing down the field. However, Subjectivist raced noticeably keenly on that occasion and Johnston – who is representing son Charlie before his arrival on Thursday – revealed that both the nature of Subjectivist’s injury and the excellent prize money on offer were factors in their decision to come to Dubai.
Johnston said: “He’s just gone round the training track once this morning [Wednesday] with Joe Fanning on him. Since he’s come back from his injury he’s been a bit keen, as you may have seen in Saudi.
“He was too keen for his own good there – as he is on the gallops at home – so the main thing for us is to try and get him relaxed and settled. I don’t think we’ll work him on the grass at all as Charlie said he got very wound up in Saudi by being on the track every morning.
“It’s brilliant to have him back but it’s a wing-and-a-prayer job. When you have a tendon injury like he did, you’re always thinking: ‘when does the end come?’ It will come at some point.
“As he was too keen on the night in Saudi, and the event and build-up proved to be a bit much for him, Charlie was keen to go to the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot and then the Gold Cup. We debated it with John, our senior vet, and he said just to see really; who knows whether he’ll still be going come Ascot Gold Cup time so we thought we’d come here. The money is fantastic and makes a huge difference.”
Saturday’s two mile (3,200m) contest is an excellent one, featuring several improving stayers among the 16-strong line-up. Rather than worry about the opposition, Johnston feels that Subjectivist will take all the beating if he can get back to the form he showed two seasons ago.
He continued: “It’s a very good race on Saturday, but there’s been no better staying races than the Ascot Gold Cup he won two years ago, and it’s probably no better than the Gold Cup he won here. It’s down to whether he’s able to come back and perform as he used to.
“I put him in the category of our best three ever, because with the other two horses I never looked at the opposition. Those two horses were Shamardal and Attraction, and it’s the same with this horse; we don’t look at the opposition.
“We look at whether he can run to his best and if he does that he’ll be tough to beat. We firmly believed that in 2021 he was the best stayer in the world and it’s just going to be whether he can get back to that.”