Mark Johnston in isolation having been 'really poorly' with the coronavirus

Record-breaking trainer Mark Johnston is in isolation having tested positive for coronavirus, with wife Deirdre reporting on Friday that she hoped he had turned a corner having been "really poorly".

Johnston, who has saddled more winners than any other British trainer and who last year broke the record for the most Flat winners in a calendar year, has been ill since last week.

He told the Horse Racing Planet website he "didn't want to make a meal of it," adding: "Other people are a lot worse off than I am; other people have bigger problems so you don't want to blow it up."

However, his wife Deirdre said: "I think he turned a corner yesterday. He's been really, really poorly, it's been very scary.

"We went into lockdown last Tuesday night, that's when his temperature was up above 39. We organised a test in the hope that it wasn't that and that we could all go back to work.

"This was when he wasn't too bad, he had a temperature and a little bit of a cough, but he was still doing emails and everything else and he didn't seem too bad. But by Sunday he was just terrible and he has been in bed ever since."

Deirdre Johnston, pictured with her husband Mark: 'I just can't wait for him to be well and get back to the horses'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Deirdre Johnston said son Charlie, who is assistant trainer at Kingsley House in Middleham, had moved out of the main house and has been able to continue working while practising self-distancing.

She added: "Everybody has been brilliant – the team is keeping everything going.

"I just can't wait for Mark to be well and get back to the horses.

"We just wish everybody else well and hope they don't get this because it is not nice, and Mark's not even as bad as the poor people who have to go into hospital."

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