OJA interviews with Derham & Hobbs / Johnson White

The first interviews for the new edition of One Jump Ahead 2025/2026 were conducted on Tuesday afternoon. I spoke to Harry Derham who has been busy during the spring / early summer acquiring fresh talent. Paul Nicholls' nephew and former assistant endured a tough winter with his gallops in Berkshire being washed away. However, he bounced back during the second half of the season sending out a personal best 57 winners at an impressive strike-rate of 21%. The stable's recruitment has come largely from the Irish pointing field, plus some interesting acquisitions from the Flat with a view to going juvenile hurdling. 

Philip Hobbs, who joined forces with his assistant Johnson White a couple of years ago, is back amongst the Talking Trainers roster. While the Minehead based operation doesn't possess the numbers of yesteryear, the stable were responsible for 53 winners last term and there is optimism amongst the ranks that total can be better this time around. Hobbs is one of the gentlemen of the sport and it would be great if he could be competing at the top table once again with some potentially high-class youngsters.