Can the north win tomorrow's Derby? PETER BARRON went to Middleham to talk to trainer Mark Johnston about his chances with Permian

IT was 1945 and the Second World War was mercifully drawing to a close when a horse trained in Middleham last won the Derby.

Dante, a brown colt with a white star, had been foaled at Manor House Stud in the town and was sent to local trainer Matt Peacock. He turned out to be prolific and when he went on to win the Derby, ridden by William Nevett, he sparked “great rejoicing across Yorkshire”.

Seventy two years on, Mark Johnston’s bay colt Permian is a strong fancy tomorrow (Saturday) to end the Yorkshire drought and bring one of racing’s glittering prizes back to Wensleydale.

Indeed, his place as one of the leading contenders was sealed when he was ridden by Franny Norton to win the most respected of Derby trials, York’s Dante Stakes, which honours the memory of Middleham’s last winner of racing’s blue riband.

Permian hadn’t always looked capable of reaching such dizzy heights. He began his three-year-old career by finishing third in a handicap at Bath – not usually part of a Derby hopeful’s preparation – but Permian has gone on to show remarkable improvement to the point where he was supplemented for tomorrow's big race and is now joint fourth favourite.

Before the Dante, he won at Newmarket but perhaps the key piece of form came on April 26 when he was beaten by a fraction over a mile and a quarter at Epsom by Derby favourite, John Gosden’s Cracksman.

With Cracksman missing the Dante, the debate has raged ever since: who’ll come out on top in the Derby? The betting points to Cracksman but Johnston – the Middleham maestro – is not so sure.

After watching his colt canter twice over six furlongs on the magnificent Middleham gallops on Thursday morning, Johnston was in a relaxed frame of mind.

“I think he’s got more than reasonable chance of beating Cracksman,” he said.

“That said, I also think it’s perfectly right that Cracksman should be a shorter price for the Derby. He’s had an absolutely orthodox preparation and been aimed for the Derby all along. He’s only had two starts and they can quite understandably expect that he’s going to improve significantly for the experience of that Epsom run.

“Permian is much more exposed but, at the same time, we can be fairly certain that Permian has improved since Epsom. We are also fairly confident he’ll be better suited by mile and a half than the mile and a quarter that day.

“I’ve freely admitted that we got first run on Cracksman, and got the run of the race at Epsom, and he did well to get out of a pocket he was in and come and catch us. But he joined us a bit of a way out and they went head to head and, when they passed the line, Permian wasn’t giving in.

“Cracksman wasn’t getting the better of us – it was simply that he got it on the nod. Cracksman certainly wasn’t pulling away so there’s every chance we can turn the tables.”

For a man closing in on his 4,000th winner, and who has fulfilled his dream of winning classics from Middleham, Johnston has had surprisingly few Derby runners. His Two Thousand Guineas hero Mister Baileys was a non-staying fourth behind Erhaab in 1994, while Fight Your Corner was fifth and Bandari eighth behind High Chaparral in 2002 after both won recognised Derby trials.

But Permian, who'll be ridden by William Buick, ticks a lot of boxes: he’ll go on any ground, he’s certain to stay a mile and a half, and he’s already run well on the notoriously quirky undulations of Epsom.

“I feel surprisingly relaxed because there’s nothing more I can do now,” said Johnston. “I think the preparation has been so straight forward because the Derby was not on our radar at the beginning of the season.

“It’s very unorthodox for a horse running in the Derby, particularly one of the fancied runners, to have had four runs already this year, starting with a handicap at Bath.

“He’s had those four runs and the preparation for each of them has been exactly the same. There’s been nothing special for us to do. He’s done all his galloping on the racecourse, the last one being the Dante. What better preparation for the Derby could you have?”

When Mister Baileys won the Two Thousand Guineas in 1994, it was a game-changer for the Johnston yard with the classic success enabling the operation to double in size. But, further down the line, he is firmly established as one of the country’s leading trainers, with a crack team led by wife Deidre and son Charlie acting as assistant trainer.

“Of course, it would mean a huge amount to win the Derby. We’ve won English classics, Irish classics and other foreign classics but we’re so established now that it wouldn’t be life-changing in the way it was back then with Mister Baileys.

“But from a personal point of view it would still be fantastic and, from a Middleham point of view, it would be wonderful not to have to talk about the last Derby winner being in 1945.”

Perhaps it would be an exaggeration to say a win for Permian tomorrow would spark “great rejoicing across Yorkshire” in the way Dante’s epic victory did in 1945.

But it would be the crowning glory of an incredible career for a man who was scoffed at when he came to Middleham nearly 30 years ago, at a time when it was in decline, and declared his burning ambition to train classic winners.