Richard Johnson (jockey)
Richard Johnson (born 21 July 1977 in Hereford) is an English National Hunt jockey.
Background
Johnson comes from a racing family with his father being an amateur jockey and his mother, Sue Johnson, a successful trainer.
Jockey career
Richard became Champion Conditional Jockey in 1995, at the age of 18.
The first winner of Richard's riding career was on Rusty Bridge at Hereford in April 1994.
He has had great success at the Cheltenham Festival. His first win at Cheltenham was on Anzum in the 1999 Stayers' Hurdle. He won the 2000 Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup with Looks Like Trouble and the 2002 Queen Mother Champion Chase with Flagship Uberalles. Richard was also victorious in the 2003 Smurfit Kappa Group Champion Hurdle with the Philip Hobbs-trained Rooster Booster on which he also came 2nd in 2004. He is one of only three jockeys riding today, the other beings Barry Geraghty and Ruby Walsh, to have won all four of those championship races at Cheltenham.
A major influence on Richard’s racing career was "The Duke" – David Nicholson who supported him in his bid to become a professional jockey.[1]
In 2003, Richard became the eighth National Hunt jockey to ride 1,000 winners in Britain on Quedex at Stratford.[2] He recorded his 2,000th career winner aboard Fighting Chance at Newbury on 16 December 2009. The 3,000th winner came on board St. Saviour at Ludlow on 4 January 2016.[3]
Having been runner up on 16 occasions in the Champion Jockey title, he was finally crowned champion for the first time in 2016. [4]
Personal life
For five years Richard lived with the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips, a relationship that created a great deal of media interest. The couple split in 2003.
References
- ↑ Richard Johnson's website
- ↑ Johnson rides 1,000th winner BBC Sport
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