IT’S not often I feel like defending Mark Johnston, as the Middleham-based Scottish trainer rarely makes any bones about the way he puts his opinion across, and seems to revel in the fact that his bluntness winds others up. As such, he doesn’t need any protection from the arrows which fly back at him, but as is so often the case, the comments attributed to him in the Racing Post, and the attempted rebuttal of them by representatives of the bookmaking fraternity don’t even form a coherent argument.

Johnston’s initial broadside came via his own ‘Bletherings’ blog, when he compared the imminent switch of racing coverage to ITV with the unsuccessful relaunch of Top Gear, and concluded by saying: “The Morning Line have done little or nothing to make the programme appeal to anyone other than punters and, personally, I think it should be possible to produce a programme that appeals to all the family. Here’s hoping.”