Ascot Gold Cup winner Subjectivist is ready to return from a 20 month injury lay-off with trainer Charlie Johnston hoping he can reclaim his spot as the world’s best stayer.
Johnston’s first big assignment since he assumed the training licence from record breaking father Mark is to saddle the 2021 Royal Ascot winner in the £2 million Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap in Saudi Arabia a week on Saturday.
The Group 3 race, over a mile and seven furlongs, will be the stayer’s first start in 605 days. He has spent the last 18 months on a rehabilitation programme but proved his return to fitness in a racecourse gallop at Newcastle last week under big race jockey Joe Fanning.
“I’m trying to keep my expectations relatively in check and the main thing is that the horse comes back safe and sound,” said Johnston.
“If he can show that he can at least be competitive at this level, then we know that we’ve still got something to work with moving forwards.
“However, with the greatest respect to what else is in the race, this horse, at his best, is in a completely different stratosphere to the rest of them. The form he showed in any of his last three starts would win this race very comfortably.”
Subjectivist’s opponents are likely to include last year’s Ebor winner Trawlerman. A victory would be right up there with any of the stable’s successes, Johnston said.
“There have been some pretty remarkable training feats from this team over the years,” he said. “I was a lot less involved with the likes of Attraction, but to bring a horse of this level, with that injury, back after this time away would be a pretty monumental task.
“Horses of this calibre are very hard to find and we reached a stage two years ago where I was that confident in his ability that I didn’t think there was a stayer in the world that could beat him. It was purely a case of picking which races we wanted to win.
“Those horses come along every 15 or 20 years, so to have nearly lost him was a huge blow, but if we can get him back to anywhere near his imperious best, it would be a huge thrill for us all.”
