'We're keeping our heads down and keeping going' - Lydia Richards's fine run

There has been plenty of good news for the Lydia Richards stable of late and the trainer's homebred Good News will bid to extend it at Fontwell on Sunday.

The West Sussex-based trainer has sent out brothers Good News and Certainly Red to win over the past two months, the pair by the late, great Midnight Legend, as well as the Dawn Approach gelding Smith, who was a ready three-length winner at Lingfield on Tuesday.

Certainly Red, a five-length winner of a handicap chase at Kempton in March on his last start, and Good News, who made it three in a row and a seventh victory in all in a handicap hurdle at Warwick on Wednesday, are out of the unraced First Trump mare Venetian Lass, a product of a mare Richards picked up for a bargain £1,100 in October 2001.

Good News carries a 7lb penalty against just three rivals at Fontwell on Sunday, when he bids to defend his trainer's 100 per cent strike-rate this jumps season - having been her first 2022-23 runner when winning at Warwick.

Richards said of her bloodstock exploits: "I've been training just a few horses for many years and I've got 40 acres here so I thought I'd better use some of it and start breeding a foal or two.

Good News: recent Warwick winner is a homebred of Lydia Richards along with brother Certainly RedCredit: Alan Crowhurst

"I bought the brothers' grandmother, Henrietta Holmes, out of a seller at Yarmouth. She was by Persian Bold, and she had Venetian Lad, who won nine races for us and was by Midnight Legend as well. She also had Venetian Lass, who is the dam of Good News and Certainly Red."

Sadly Richards lost Venetian Lass, but she remains positive about her small band of mares, not to mention the rich vein of form her string has been in of late.

She said: "Venetian Lass unfortunately had to be put down a few years ago, which is a shame as her progeny are doing very well. I've got two mares at the moment but neither of them have been covered this year because it's all rather expensive really.

"As to our current form, it's great, we've been having a purple patch and for the last two years our percentage of winners to runners has been high and all the horses have been relatively consistent. They're doing well and I've got excellent staff, which always helps."

Life generally, however, is no picnic - the economic climate continues to take its toll on racing, and Richards is among the many trainers facing an uphill battle for prize-money and owners.

Certainly Red on his way to an emphatic victory for Richards at Wincanton last yearCredit: Edward Whitaker

"I'm finding it tough because we're a small yard that runs horses in lower-grade races, and the horses we usually have in the yard, I buy them and then sell them in shares and form a partnership," she said.

"It's those sorts of people who we really aim at, but of course for them they've been harder hit in lockdown and with everything else that's going on, so the first thing that goes is their share in a racehorse."

Richards, whose runners always command particular respect at her local tracks of Plumpton and Fontwell, where she has enjoyed a loyal following since the 1990s, added: "We've been hit by it all but we're keeping our heads down and are determined to keep going - and we will keep going."

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