There were a few assets Mark Johnston lacked when he set out to become a trainer but motivation was never one of them.

It has taken him to the cusp of breaking the British record, currently held by Richard Hannon Sr with 4,193 winners.

That Johnston will do so, quite possibly this week, in around 12 fewer years is impressive. That he has got there at all is staggering and should put him up with any other great achievement in Scottish sport.

Coming from a council estate in East Kilbride meant that background and the associated financial backing was not available when he and his wife, Deidre, began in March 1987. And their first stable was a derelict site in Lincolnshire with only “three and a half paying horses” and gallops

that were part of an RAF target practice range.

“I had ambitions but you don’t think ‘I’m going to have 4,000 winners’. One winner at a time,” he said, reflecting on how success may have

changed outside perceptions. “In 1987 one winner felt good and the next five winners felt fantastic. But now if we went a week without a winner people would be saying there was something wrong.”

Success may breed success but in Johnston’s case it has also given birth to a juggernaut. He has trained at least 100 winners every year since 1994, became the first trainer to reach a double century in 2009 and would have been champion trainer 12 times were the title not decided on prize money.

He admits that he is still more motivated by fear of failure than the allure of success. “It’s been a driving force for us, particularly in our first five years at Middleham when any sort of let up and we’d have gone under,” he said, adding with a laugh: “I used to say that nothing makes you train winners like an overdraft.”

The overdraft might not be a worry but there are 125 staff, meaning a salary bill of around £3.5m, and the 230 horses housed at Kingsley House leave little margin above the figure of 180 which Johnston perceives as the break-even point for the business which he will eventually hand over to his son, Charlie, who is now the assistant trainer.

The son will have to rise high to match the father and his latest milestone is a far removed from the day in July 1987 when Hinari Video won at Carlisle. “The thing I remember most is coming home and looking at the result all night on Teletext,” Johnston said. “There were no replays then, so we just put the results page on the television and watched it all night. I don’t remember much about being at Carlisle or the immediate postrace - just me and Deidre staring at Teletext.”

“It’s exciting and I’ll be delighted that we’ve done it. But you can’t stop and they’ll be horses to run half an hour later. So it’s business as usual.”

And no lack of motivation.