Racing: McCoy held at bay by Border as Johnsons take acclaim

Tony McCoy's relentless pursuit of winners and entries in the record books took him to Southwell yesterday where, surprisingly, he failed to notch a victory from five rides. That means that he remains seven successes short of one of the few records he does not yet hold, Richard Dunwoody's all-time mark for a British jump jockey of 1,699 winners.

McCoy's third on Martin Pipe's Douceur Des Songes, the 6-4 favourite for the novices' hurdle may not look so bad by the time the winner, Welsh Border, has completed his season. The Cheltenham Festival is the long-term target for the winner who had smart form on the level for Henry Cecil and is now with George Prodromou.

Instead of McCoy, it was Richard Johnson and Kenny Johnson (no relation)who took the riding honours. The former recorded a double on the Philip Hobbs-trained Navarre Samson in the selling hurdle and Peter Bowen's Glacial Missile who, blinkered for the first time, landed the handicap hurdle.

They do not come any tougher than Kenny Johnson, and his determination was again to the fore when he forced Norman Mason's Ulusaba past Geomar on the run-in to win the opening novices' handicap by half a length.

Johnson can justly claim that the fates have not always been on his side. "Nearly every season I have had a bad injury and if I had been a horse they would have put me down by now," he said. "Most recently I broke a leg, and shattered the knuckle of my ring finger. Though that might not seem much, a lot of little bones were broken and I was out for six weeks.

"But all thanks to Mr Mason and his assistant Richard Guest, they have been great to me and stuck by me. I am 33 now but I am still learning from Richard all the time."

Nysaean leads massed charge on Deauville

Britain's challenge for the lavish prizes on offer at the Normandy track of Deauville continues on Thursday when visitors account for the bulk of the 13 horses declared yesterday for the Group Two Prix Guillaume d'Ornano.

The Richard Hannon-trained Nysaean, a runaway Listed-race winner at the seaside track at the weekend, heads the seven-strong British challenge. He was joined at the first forfeit stage by Henry Cecil's Burning Sun, Common World from the Gerard Butler yard, Paul Cole's Guys And Dolls, Marcus Tregoning's Highdown, the Mark Johnston-trained Legal Approach, and Rawyaan from John Gosden's Manton operation, which lifted Sunday's Group One Prix Maurice de Gheest with May Ball.

The Grand Prix de Paris third Without Connexion heads the home defence alongside André Fabre's one-time Derby hope Shaanmer, Bernebeau and Cielago.

Godolphin's Naheef and Fisich, placed in the Italian Derby, also figure among the possibles for this 10-furlong event.