Johnson White is seeking a first Cheltenham Festival winner in 2026 as joint licence holder with Philip Hobbs.
White has been Hobbs’ right-hand man for many years, becoming joint trainer with his former boss in 2023. He has therefore enjoyed overseeing many Cheltenham winners with the yard, but is yet to taste success as a handler in his joint right.
This season may be different though, with the pair responsible for training Sober Glory. The six-year-old appears to have a live chance in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, the opening race of the meeting.
Sober Glory has impressed in his novice season, winning three of his four starts. A disappointment at Sandown on his second start, he has bounced back strongly. Two Newbury contests have been won by a combined 40 lengths against some talented rivals.
White said to the Press Association via Racing TV: “We were delighted and he’s a very exciting horse going forward, that is for sure. The Supreme is very much the target at the moment. He couldn’t have done it anymore impressively.
“I know Dan Skelton thinks an awful lot of the second horse (Kadastral) and Harry Cobden was very complimentary about Sober Glory, as you would hope and expect him to be.”
Yard hopeful Sober Glory can emulate Menorah
Philip Hobbs won the 2010 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle with Menorah. White remembers it fondly given his long-standing involvement with the team.
It is therefore, not just a first official Cheltenham winner which appeals to White, but a winner in the Supreme itself.
“It would be very special to get my first winner and any race would be special, but if we could win the Supreme it would be a nice start to the week.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to win it before and ahead of the Festival you are thinking if we can win just one race then we will be happy, but once you have one you want more and don’t want to settle – it’s a drug you can’t get enough of.”
White admits that Sober Glory is a horse for the future for many reasons. Regardless of the result in the Supreme, there is faith their charge will provide headlines over fences too.
“Sober Glory is probably a bigger, stronger chasing type than previous horses we have run in the race and at the beginning of the season we were looking and thinking he would probably be running over two and a half miles by now.
“But he just shows plenty of speed both on the racecourse and in his work at home as well. He’s just a lovely horse to have, he’s straightforward, good looking and has a lot of talent under the bonnet as well.”