Fulke Johnson Houghton is revelling being back in the big-race spotlight.

Tout Seul, flanked by Fulke Johnson Houghton and his daughter Eve

Returning to his Blewbury stables after picking up the morning papers, Johnson Houghton has a sparkle in his eye as he looks forward to saddling Tout Seul in the Sagitta 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.

"He is in great form. He couldn't be better," he says. "I am absolutely delighted with him.

"We have done our bit and now it is up to him. He must have a hell of a chance."

The 62-year-old master of Woodway Stables is no stranger to success at the highest level.

In the late 1960s and the 1970s, he mopped up a host of top prizes with the likes of the St Leger-winning brothers Ribocco and Ribero, top miler Habitat, champion filly Rose Bowl and middle distance star Ile De Bourbon.

But with the loss of some leading owners, he had a spell in the big-race wilderness until Tout Seul gave him a famous success in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket last October - his first Group 1 win for 23 years.

It was a victory which fired the racing public's imagination with Tout Seul, a bargain buy at Ir£12,000, beating the big-money purchases owned by the likes of the mega-rich Maktoum family and Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle operation.

And it capped a marvellous season, which saw the son of Ali-Royal win five of his seven starts, finishing second in the other two, for a prize-money haul of £272,251.

In the build-up to the Guineas, Johnson Houghton has been busy fielding enquiries from the media.

"I think it's because it is fairly unique with him being a cheap horse.

"We have had an awful lot of press round, and people tell me I am getting very big-headed," he jokes.

It was the idea of Johnson Houghton's daughter and assistant, Eve, to put together the ten-share syndicate which purchased Tout Seul.

Included among the owners are Eve herself, her brother Gordon and Michael Allingham, a professor at Oxford University's Magdalen College.

The heir-in-waiting to her father's operation, Eve says of Tout Seul: "He is trained by committee. Dad likes to think he is chairman, but I am definitely the chairman. I have the final say when we are discussing and arguing about things."

The man in the hot-seat is jockey Stephen Carson, a 23-year-old, who hails from Northern Ireland, but now lives at Purley, near Reading.