// Richard Johnson
Real Life
Emma Logan met with Richard Johnson the current Champion Jockey of National Hunt Racing.
Richard Johnson is one of the most successful jockeys of all time but it took him 22 years to become the illustrious title owner of ‘Champion’. Herefordshire born and bred, Richard is a country boy who grew up in a horse mad, farming family surrounded by beautiful countryside just outside of Leominster.
Both of Richard’s parents and grandparents have always been involved with racing; his mother Sue has been a successful trainer and his father was an amateur jockey. By his own admission Richard didn’t particularly enjoy school, which led him to the realisation that only by racing horses or working on the family farm was he going to be able to fulfill his work ambitions.
Richard’s first memory of sitting on a pony was when he was 5 years old and he immediately loved the feeling. His mother was a huge influence driving him to shows and pony club before his father a point-to-pointer, introduced him to David Nicholson who was training in the Cotswolds at the time.
Richard said, “I worked at David’s yard during my holidays but as I wasn’t very good at school, I left at 16 and went to work for him fulltime and it all went from there.
“David was a great man to go to. He was well known for bringing young jockeys through and he was brutally honest if you weren’t good enough. My parents realised that if I was in this category or didn’t enjoy it, I could come back and do something else.”
For the first 18 months at David’s yard, Richard rode as an amateur jockey in point-to- points before riding his first race. His first ever win was at 18 on a horse owned by his grandfather called Rusty Bridge at Hereford in April 1994. He became Champion Conditional Jockey in the 1995/1996 season, aged only 19 and continued to graduate through the yard until he became the stable jockey. Deciding to retire about 5 years later, David Nicholson handed over the reins to his assistant trainer Alan King who Richard continued to ride for.
Richard said, “David’s last Festival winner was my first Cheltenham Festival winner on Anzum in the 1999 Stayers’ Hurdle and to this day this is the highlight of my career. For the man who got me going it was very, very important for me to ride a winner for him there.”
Richard’s phenomenal ride-to-fame escalated and the following year in 2000 he rode Looks Like Trouble to victory in the Gold Cup. Ironically the horse, which now resides with the Johnson family in their field, was trained by his father-in-law, the Irish trainer Noel Chance.
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