GRASSROOTS: ANNA JOHNSTON

From Exmoor Pony to Point to Point Double: Anna Johnston’s Journey 

Success in racing rarely arrives overnight, and for those who carve their own path into the sport without family connections, the journey can take even longer. For Anna Johnston, that journey began on the edge of Exmoor and has been built on years of hard work, determination, and a love of horses that started long before she ever rode in a race. 

That patience was rewarded recently when Johnston rode the first double of her career. It was a milestone moment that reflected not just a good day at the races but the long road she has travelled to get there. Johnston was Leading National Female Novice 2023/2024. 

Johnston’s introduction to horses came at home after her parents bought an Exmoor pony foal from the Brendo Pony Fair. Growing up on the moor, that pony became the centre of her early riding life. “My parents bought an Exmoor pony foal, and I was born the year after, so I basically grew up with her,” Johnston explained. “For the first twelve or fourteen years of my life she was my pony and I rode her everywhere across the moor hunting and trying all sorts with her.” 

The pony clearly left its mark. Now aged thirty, she is still happily hacking out with another family, which is a reminder of where Johnston’s journey with horses first began. While horses were always part of her life, racing was something she had to find her own way into. Trips to her local point-to-point sparked an early fascination. “I used to drag my parents there because I always loved watching and always wanted to point-to-point,” she said. 

Johnston was encouraged to keep a more conventional career option open alongside her racing ambitions. She went on to university and later completed a master’s in veterinary epidemiology, focusing on racehorse injuries. That academic path even took her overseas. “I worked in Hong Kong as a research scientist studying injuries in racehorses,” she said. “I always wanted to be involved in racehorses somehow”. Clearly, the ambition to ride never went away. 

After returning to Britain, Johnston began working in racing yards, gaining experience while gradually finding opportunities to ride. It was not always straightforward. The first horse she bought to run in point to points was My King, who suffered an injury before making it to the racecourse, while her next horse, Horatio Hornblower, gave her a first ride but also saw his career cut short due to injury. “It’s a tough game when you only have one horse,” she admitted. “I haven’t had much luck as an owner/jockey”. 

Now riding freelance, Johnston splits her time between several yards. She rides out for Syd Hosie under rules, spends time with Leslie Jefford, who provides the majority of her pointing rides. Freelancing has given her the flexibility to keep opportunities open. “It’s nice because if someone asks you to come and school something you can actually say yes,” she said. “You are not tied to one place, and it keeps everything varied.”  

One person who has played a particularly important role in her career is Jefford’s. Their association goes back to Johnston’s early days in the saddle, and he trained her first winner, Broadclyst. “Les really took me under his wing when I was a novice,” she said. “It makes a huge difference riding for someone who really backs you”. That support was evident when Johnston rode two winners on the same card to complete her first double. 

The first came aboard the improving French-bred Jeu Gagnant owned by the Here Come The Girls Partnership. The grey has progressed steadily in recent outings, and Johnston believes there is still more to come. “He is still a horse we are learning about,” she said. “He is quite a lightweight athletic sort of horse, and we were not sure how he would cope with softer ground, but he handled it really well”, “he is a very exciting horse”. When asked what the reception was like after a winning ride, the syndicate that owns the horse was mentioned first – “They are brilliant. Win, lose, or draw, they are celebrating back at the lorry. They are just a fantastic bunch of ladies.” 

Her second winner came aboard ‘The Big Breakaway’, a well-known horse returning to pointing after a career under rules. The aim was simple: to help him learn to enjoy racing again. “With him, it was really about getting him happy and enjoying it again,” Johnston said. The race developed into a scenario when the only other runner came down, leaving Johnston in front on her own with four fences still to jump. “He is not always the most genuine in front by himself so I was just thinking we have got four more fences to get over safely,” she explained. Fortunately, the horse responded well and jumped his way home to secure the victory and Johnston’s long-awaited double. 

Crossing the line brought a mixture of emotions. The meeting had fallen on Mother’s Day, only a few months after Johnston lost her mother on Christmas Eve, someone who had shared many of those early trips to the point-to-points. “She loved going pointing,” Johnston said. “It has been a tough winter, but that day felt like the kind of day she would have liked.” Despite difficult weather conditions, the atmosphere afterwards captured everything that makes grassroots racing special. Once the racing finished, the rain eased, and the lorry park filled with smiles, photographs, and horses grazing. “That is one of the great things about pointing,” Johnston said. “Everyone is back at the lorry, the horses are eating grass, and people are just enjoying the day.” 

For Johnston, the double meant more than just two winners on a card. It was a moment that reflected years of determination across different yards and building opportunities the hard way. “It has taken a long time,” she said. “But days like that make it feel worth it.” 

If recent performances are anything to go by, Anna Johnston’s story in point-to-pointing may still have plenty more chapters to come.