UK Horse Racing Tips

Richard Johnson has won the the Stobart Jump Jockeys Championship for the last two years and, with 135 winners already this season – 23 ahead of his nearest rival, Harry Skelton – is well on his way to collect his third successive title. Johnson won the Conditional Jump Jockeys Championship in 1995/96 but, for the next 19 years it was a question of “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” for the Hereford-born jockey.

Unfortunately, his career coincided with that of a certain Anthony Peter “A.P.” McCoy – now, of course, Sir Anthony – who is the only jockey in the history of National Hunt racing to ride over 4,000 winners and was Champion Jockey every season from 1995/96 until his retirement at the end of 2014/15 season. During that period, Johnson finished runner up in the Jump Jockeys’ Championship no fewer than 16 times.

Nevertheless, Johnson, 40, speaks highly of the former champion, without whom he would almost certainly be talked about as the greatest jockey in the history of National Hunt racing. He has admitted, however, that McCoy was a thorn in his side for a long time and, with all due respect, expressed his delight at his former arch-rival’s absence from the weighing room.

Johnson rode his 3,000th winner at Ludlow in January, 2016 and, at the time of writing, has a career total of 3,363 winners. That figure is still some way short of McCoy’s record total of 4,348 winners, but streets clear of the likes of Richard Dunwoody, John Francome and Peter Scudamore, who won the Jump Jockeys Championship between them. Of course, “Dicky”, as Johnson is popularly known, is still riding as well as ever, with the same level of commitment he’s shown over the last two decades, so he’s likely to be Champion Jockey a few more times before he finally hangs up his boots.

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