Team Johnston hits ground running with Forest Falcon

Forest Falcon, sent off a 14/1 chance, was always well-placed under Dettori and stole a march on his rivals by kicking for home over two furlongs out. The four-year-old stayed on strongly to score by a length and three-quarters from Godolphin’s Brilliant Light (13/2).

It was Mark Johnston’s 90th winner at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, a meeting where he has been top trainer 13 times, and his first since Charlie's name was added to the licence.

Mark Johnston said: “It is good to get off the mark with the first runner. It is very much Charlie’s doing. He earmarked this race for this horse at the beginning of the season and said all along that this would be his D-Day and he was right. Forest Falcon couldn’t have won it more easily.”

Charlie Johnston said: “We are over the moon. It is a week which has been so important to our family for a long time and I've felt involved in plenty of winners, but this is the first one with my name on the licence. It's a big week ahead so to get one on the board in race one takes some pressure off.

“I have been brought up with the mantra that this is the week we target. I've had a spreadsheet on my desk for six to eight weeks now with the names of horses which have been pencilled in, scribbled out and penned in again to be aimed at this meeting.

“Royal Ascot is also important for the prestige, but this is always the week we like to target. Dad has been leading trainer here 13 times and the plan was to always make it 14 or one, whichever way you look at it this year!

“I said to a good friend of mine Steve Croft on April 16, which is the day Forest Falcon first ran this year, that he would win the first race at Glorious Goodwood because he is just tailor-made for it. A mile on a quarter on an easy track on fast ground. I started to doubt myself a little bit when he disappointed in the John Smith's Cup, but I always thought this was D-Day for this horse.”

Dettori, who was recording his 75th winner at the meeting, said: “Mark and Charlie Johnston are so good at Goodwood. I never look at the price of their horses and I know if you are on one of their horses, you have every chance. Forest Falcon never looked like getting beat.

“The winners the Johnston's have had in the past years have been amazing. They have a big team of around 30 horses this year and it's nice to have a winner for them.”

On Stradivarius, he added: “I am Stradivarius' biggest fan. He has been part of my life for five years. I love him so much and I hope he wins. It could be his last race, so I wish him all the best."