Johnson back to winning ways Richard Johnson had his first taste of success since returning from injury with a double at Kempton today.Johnson returned to the saddle last Thursday, three months after breaking his right leg in a fall at Exeter but showed in landing the near 6-1 double on Jacklighte Bellevue and Gunther McBride that he is intent on making up for lost time.'That`s brilliant. That`s just what I wanted at the start of the afternoon and it`s good to be back,' said Johnson. 'I know this was only Kempton on a Monday, but I`d got a nice book of rides today.'Johnson had struck in the opening contest when he delivered Jacklighte Bellevue to head Word Of Honour at the second last flight of the Mount Bell Novices` Hurdle and the 2-1 favourite stayed on to score by one and a quarter lengths.Successful trainer Alan King said that while the French-bred Jacklighte Bellevue holds an entry in the Royal & SunAlliance Novices` Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, the five-year-old could head for the final of the EBF series at Sandown.Johnson`s second success saw Gunther McBride reverting to fences to land the St Clement Handicap Chase by 14 lengths from Arctic Fancy, having forged clear over the final two obstacles.King completed a double when the odds-on Gola Cher confirmed his ticket to the Cheltenham Festival in the Up And Coming Novices` Chase.Gola Cher seemingly made hard work of mastering Pembroke Square over the final three fences before securing a two-length win under Robert `Chocolate` Thornton. But King was unconcerned.'He`s jumped smashing and `Choc` said he had tons left,' said King. 'He`s done that all his life, he gets there and he starts pricking his ears, and I don`t mind that at all. That`s his style.'Gola Cher will head direct to the Royal & SunAlliance Chase on the second day of Cheltenham and King added: 'The whole idea about today was to find him a small race. He`d a couple of hard races in his first two this season.'King also confirmed that Thornton would keep the ride on the eight-year-old even though Johnson has returned.'Richard has only ridden the horse twice in his life and there was never any question about who would ride him today,' said King. 'The owners left it up to me and I thought I had to be fair and loyal to `Choc`.'
