'It can't last forever' - Richard Johnson looks to the future
Jonathan Harding speaks to the four-time champion jockey
Richard Johnson has been schooling at Henry Daly's Downton Hall Stables every Tuesday during the season for more than 20 years. He began riding here as a teenager for Captain Tim Forster and, after the trainer handed over the reins in 1998, Johnson kept coming. He must have enjoyed the routine as Daly never had to ask him back.
"You'd get less for murder," says the four-time champion jockey as he walks over to his first ride of the morning with a slight hobble, jokingly putting it down to the wear and tear of his profession.
Johnson looks far more comfortable on the back of a horse than he does walking and, even at 43, it is clear from his broad smile there is nowhere in the world he would rather be. Certainly not when there is a jockeys' championship to win back.
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Published on inInterviews
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Copy- 'It's tough financially and last year I said I might get a job driving a lorry instead - although to be fair I'd probably crash!'
- 'I'm not here to tell people how to train but if you hide something from me, I'm gone, I'm done - and you won't see me again'
- 'I had to fly back from Saudi on the day for the awards before flying back the following day but it really was a great evening'
- 'The lads often give out to me for saying what I say - but if I didn't say what I thought I wouldn't be being true to myself'
- 'All anyone wants is a pat on the back and these awards show you mean something to the yard and the people there. It's brilliant'
- 'It's tough financially and last year I said I might get a job driving a lorry instead - although to be fair I'd probably crash!'
- 'I'm not here to tell people how to train but if you hide something from me, I'm gone, I'm done - and you won't see me again'
- 'I had to fly back from Saudi on the day for the awards before flying back the following day but it really was a great evening'
- 'The lads often give out to me for saying what I say - but if I didn't say what I thought I wouldn't be being true to myself'
- 'All anyone wants is a pat on the back and these awards show you mean something to the yard and the people there. It's brilliant'