Johnston hopeful Subjectivist is still one of the best stayers around

Riyadh: Despite being closely associated with the likes of Shamardal, Double Trigger and Attraction, trainer Charlie Johnston is the first to admit that horses like Subjectivist do not come around very often.

The son of Teofilo looked to have the staying division at his mercy after surging clear to win the 2021 Gold Cup at Ascot when trained by his father Mark, but unfortunately a serious leg injury meant he has been off the track ever since.

However, after a lengthy rehabilitation process, the two-time Group 1 winner is back and Johnston, now the sole holder of the license, is excited to have his stable star ready to run in the $2.5 million Group 3 Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap on Feb. 25.

He said: “It’s been an 18-month rehab journey, so to have come this far is great and we’re all very much looking forward to having him on the track again.

“It’s a bit of an unknown in the sense we aren’t entirely sure what we have back, and it will be asking a lot to have the same horse that we had 20 months ago. I sincerely hope we do, but we won’t find that out until he runs in Saudi.”

The 6-year-old was given a racecourse gallop at Newcastle last week, and with his trainer happy with the outing, everything is in place for a first run in 605 days.

“I was pleased with what I saw at Newcastle,” Johnston said. “The difficulty with any horse is that you don’t really put them into the red zone at home, but particularly with a horse of this nature who runs over these distances.

“We’ve never gone to the distances which he excels over, and we don’t have many 120-rated stayers to work him either, so of course there’s that unknown, but both myself and Joe (Fanning) were pleased with how he went.

“Joe knows the horse better than