HOT SPRINGS - It doesn’t take long for Mike Johnson to describe the landscape around Palmyra, the tiny Lincoln County community where the trainer and his wife Erin reside.
“It’s a crossroad and a church, is what it is,” Johnson said. “That’s the only thing that’s there. I tell everybody I’m the sheriff from Palmyra.”
There was a new sheriff in town Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn Park.
The unheralded Johnson, 37, saddled a horse for the first time in an open stakes race and watched Drogue, owned by Oaklawn President Charles Cella, romp to a record-breaking nine-length victory over stablemate Cyber Secret in the $100,000 Fifth Season, the horse’s third consecutive victory.
“When that horse hit the eighth pole, I think I blacked out,” Johnson said. “I was screaming and hollering and carrying on. I was overwhelmed with excitement.”
The Fifth Season marked Johnson’s 248th career starter since going out on his own in the fall of 2006, when he inherited a handful of horses from his mentor, Pete Vestal, who retired following a highly successful 27-year career.
After spending five years as an assistant under Vestal, Johnson began the 2007 Oaklawn meeting with four horses - all owned by Cella - before saddling his first winner that August at Louisiana Downs near Shreveport.
“If it wasn’t for Pete Vestal and Mr. Cella, I wouldn’t be training horses,” said Johnson, whose modest stable has never produced more than five victories in a year. “They’re the two that gave me the opportunity.”
Cella was expected to win the Fifth Season with the Lynn Whiting-trained Cyber Secret, the track’s top older handicap horse in 2013 when he won all four starts, including the $500,000 Grade II Oaklawn Handicap.
Drogue, conversely, had never run in a stakes race in his 18-race career and competed in claiming events at last year’s Oaklawn meeting.
But because Cella owns both horses, they were coupled in the wagering and went off as the heavy 1-2 favorite.
“Honestly, without Cyber Secret, I was thinking I was 20-1,” Johnson said. “I’m running against listed and graded horses, and I’m coming off two allowance race wins. Obviously, he’s a nice horse, but he was very unproven.”
But Drogue performed like a major graded stakes winner Saturday, moving to the lead midway on the second turn without any urging from Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel.
“When I hollered at him, he just came on home,” said Borel, riding his first winner since breaking a leg in October.
Johnson said he decided to give Drogue a shot in the Essex because of his razor-sharp form and sharp 5-furlong workout Jan. 4 (1:01.20), adding that Borel has always had confidence in the 6-year-old son of Victory Gallop.
“He could have taken off him a couple of times in Kentucky, but he kept telling his agent this horse would win a stakes before it’s all said and done,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he received 75 text messages following his breakthrough victory, and had at least 25 voice messages when his mail box became full.
Johnson was able to share the victory with his wife, Erin, who also assists with the trainer’s string of about 10 horses. The Johnsons have show horses and cattle on their 106-acre farm in Palmyra, which is five miles west of Star City.
“It just shows if you keep working hard every day, something good will happen,” Erin Johnson said.
Mike Johnson said Drogue, also bred by Cella, will make his next start in the $100,000 Essex Handicap on Feb. 15.
Sports, Pages 19 on 01/16/2014