BY breaking the record for the most wins recorded by a British trainer, Mark Johnston yesterday cemented his status as a sporting great.

Johnston’s tally of 4,194 winners is a truly remarkable feat, elevating to him a position alongside horseracing’s greats. Not bad for a qualified vet who trained greyhounds before he switched his attention to horses.

However, not only is Johnston a remarkable racing figure, he is also someone who has helped shape the development of the Yorkshire Dales over the course of the last three decades.

When the Glaswegian relocated to Middleham in the late 1980s, the once-thriving training base was on its knees, with fewer than 150 racehorses stabled in its surrounds.

There was talk of the gallops on High Moor and Low Moor having to close because the training fees they generated were insufficient to pay for their upkeep.

Johnston is not the only person to have transformed Middleham, but he has been at the spearhead of a renaissance that now sees the North Yorkshire market town firmly established as one of the leading racing centres in the country, comparable to Newmarket and Lambourn in terms of its importance.

Johnston’s Kingsley Park stables employ more than 100 members of staff, and are the beating heart of a vibrant success story.

It was therefore fitting that yesterday’s record-breaking victory came on the Knavesmire at York. A Yorkshire triumph for one of Yorkshire’s most influential sporting figures.