EVE Johnson Houghton has enjoyed the best year of her training career – and she is aiming to end it on a high by running Scarlet Dragon in the Qatar Derby on December 29.

Johnson Houghton has sent out 41 winners this term from her Blewbury stables, near Didcot, earning prize-money totalling almost £500,000, making her Great Britain’s leading female trainer for the first time.

Scarlet Dragon has been her biggest money-spinner, having won the valuable Old Rowley Cup at Newmarket in October.

Now the three-year-old is heading to Al Rayyan in Doha for the Qatar Derby, which carries prize-money of $500,000. Speaking after the annual yearling parade at her Woodway yard, Johnson Houghton said of her stable star’s Middle East mission: “It is very exciting and worth a lot of money.”

“He’s probably rated almost too high to be in handicaps, so we will be going the Group race route and if he is good enough I would like to think we could end up Down Under this time next year.”

Bouyed by Scarlet Dragon’s success, owners the Henry Ponsonby Racing syndicate have invested in Running Cloud, a son of Cacique, one of 17 yearlings that Johnson Houghton paraded in front of an audience of around 180 owners and guests, with the trainer describing him as an “absolute cracker”.

Accidental Agent, named after Johnson Houghton’s grandfather, John Goldsmith, following his wartime exploits with the French Resistance, and owned and bred by her mother, Gaie, was the yard’s other big earner, landing the £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes at Newmarket in October.

The trainer said: “We were offered a lot of money for him and mum said she was too old to be selling a star horse as she might not have one like him again.

“He will start off in handicaps and hopefully go onwards and upwards. I think he is a sprinter - a six-furlong horse.”

Another highlight of Johnson Houghton’s year came at the start of August when she landed her first across-the-card treble at incredible odds of 13,565-1, courtesy of Coarse Cut (20-1) at Kempton followed by Bahamadam (33-1) and Goring (18-1) at Windsor.

Stable stalwart What About Carlo provided the yard’s last winner of the Flat turf season when scoring at Newbury, before embarking on a hurdling campaign.

Having found the likes of Moon Racer too hot to handle in a Grade 2 event on his debut over timber at Cheltenham, he is now set to tackle a maiden hurdle at Newbury on December 14.