// Richard Johnson


won the Triumph Hurdle last year is unbeaten and we hope he’ll be a champion hurdle horse.”


Though rarely off the saddle, Richard enjoys his downtime with his wife Fiona and 3 young children. Having moved back from the Cotswolds 10 years ago, the family lives on the farm where his grandmother and mother were brought up. The children have a pony each so he enjoys spending quality time with them. “The only negative about what I do is that we rarely get time off. There is so much travelling and early starts but the family enjoy coming to the races and understand what I do and that’s what I do for a living. Being a jockey is part and part of the routine and has been very good to me and hopefully we have got lots more years to look forward to all together.”


Richard admits he can like food a bit too much for a jockey (especially chocolate) but being shorter than the likes of AP and Mick Fitzgerald he’s never suffered from a weight problem. He does watch what he eats and keeps fit but jockeys are better looked after nowadays and the PJA (Professional Jockeys Association), provide experts who give advice on their nutrition


and health and this includes physios on the racecourse - everything these days is geared up to make them last longer.


During his odd day off, Richard enjoys meeting up with friends at local pubs to his home including The Lion at Leintwardine, The Oak at Wigmore and The Angel at Kingsland where he is not recognised as a jockey but the local farmer’s son. Richard knows that if he hadn’t been a jockey he would have joined the farm with his father and brother and it will be a place for him to return to permanently when he finally hangs up his stirrups. He’s begun to breed racehorses and he hopes to build this area of his life into the same kind of success he has enjoyed riding on the turf.


In the meantime, the most important thing for him is to continue his run as Champion Jockey and this is what drives him everyday whether the race meets are held in Scotland, Wales or England. Richard finishes by saying, “Plumpton on a Monday is as important to me as a big win on a Saturday. When it comes to the Cheltenham Festival, those are the really big races you want to win but everyday for me is special”.


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