Following the death of the Aga Khan earlier in the month, last Friday brought news that a trainer strongly associated with the legendary owner/breeder had sadly passed away.
A staple of the British training game for over forty years, Fulke Johnson Houghton tasted success on the biggest stages during a golden period in the 1960s and 1970s, picking up top-class successes in Britain, Ireland, and France.
Here, we look back on the career of a man who appears to have been loved by all who crossed his path.
A Family Affair
A career as a racehorse trainer was written in the stars for Fulke Johnson Houghton. Son to trainer Gordon Johnson Houghton, he is named after his mother’s twin brother Fulke Walwyn – the legendary jockey and trainer who is remembered by the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. Despite the seeming inevitability, Fulke took his first steps into the training ranks at a surprisingly young age.
During the rather different era of the 1960s, women didn’t enjoy the type of status in racing that they do in 2025. As such, despite doing the job of a trainer, Fulke’s mother, Helen, was not permitted to have her name on the licence following the death of Gordon Johnson Houghton in 1952.
Fulke faced no such limitations and officially took over the running of the Woodway Stables yard in Blewbury in 1961 at the age of 20 – making him the youngest licenced trainer in the country at the time.
Forty-six years and 1,200 winners later, Fulke decided to call it a day. However, that was not the end of the Johnson Houghton training dynasty. Following his retirement, the new name above the door at Woodway Stables is that of Fulke’s daughter, Eve Johnson Houghton.
Beautiful but very cold this morning. Thanks to all the staff who kept going. #teamWoodway 🥶🥶 pic.twitter.com/Oq0dh8iEu0
— Eve Johnson Houghton (@johnsonhoughton) January 10, 2025
Still going strong in 2025, Eve is now closing in on 200 winners of her own and put the Johnson Houghton name up in lights when claiming the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes in 2018. Continuing the family’s love affair with horses, Fulke’s son Gordon briefly worked as a trainer before changing tack to become an equine therapist.
The 1960s and 70s: A Golden Age
Fulke picked up his first winner with Whimsical at the now-defunct Hurst Park racecourse in 1961. His last arrived in 2006 with the victory of Mujood at Brighton in 2006. That swansong success came in a low-key Class 4 handicap, indicative of the level at which the long-time trainer generally operated during the latter stages of his career.
However, whilst Fulke’s profile may have faded during his twilight years, it burned brightly during a near-20-year period in the 1960s and 70s. During that time, the affable handler amassed a record of which most trainers would be envious. No stranger to Group 1 events in Britain, Ireland, and beyond, his standout successes included:
- St Leger Stakes – Ribocco (1967) & Ribero (1968)
- King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes – Ile De Bourbon (1978)
- Irish Derby – Ribocco (1967) & Ribero (1968)
- Champion Stakes – Rose Bowl (1975)
- Queen Elizabeth II Stakes – Romulus (1962) & Rose Bowl (1975 & 1976)
- Sussex Stakes – Romulus (1962)
- July Cup – Parsimony (1972)
- King’s Stand Stakes – Double Form (1979)
- Haydock Sprint Cup – Double Form (1979)
- Prix de l’Abbaye – Double Form (1979)
As Good a Man as He Was a Trainer
Hopefully, Fulke looked back upon those achievements with pride in his latter years. However, training was only one part of what made the man, as succinctly put by Eve Johnson Houghton:
“He was a wonderful trainer and a wonderful judge of a horse. He was a wonderful man and a testament to the fact that people who worked here never really left, and if they did, they always came back and saw him. He was very loved by a lot of people.”
“I had a wonderful childhood, and I was so lucky he was my dad.”
His was certainly a life well lived.
