Born in Dublin on January 11, 1973, Richard Hughes is, of course, the son of Dessie Hughes, who, as a jockey, won the Champion Hurdle on Monksfield in 1979 and, as a trainer, did so again with Hardy Eustace in 2004 and 2005. However, despite standing 5’10” tall, and riding at now lower than 8st 8lb in the latter part of his career, between July 1994 and July 2015, he rode 2,428 domestic winners and was British Champion Flat Jockey three years running in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
A retained jockey for Prince Khalid bin Abdullah, founder of Juddmonte, between 2000 and 2007 – and first-choice jockey from 2003 onwards, following the retirement of Pat Eddery – Hughes subsequently rode for his father-in-law, Richard Hannon Snr., and his brother-in-law, Richard Jnr. His second title-winning season, 2013, in which he rode 208 winners, was his most successful numerically. That season also yielded two British Classic winners, namely Sky Lantern, trained by Hannon Snr., in the 1,000 Guineas and Talent, trained by Ralph Beckett, in the Oaks.In his career as a whole, Hughes rode 169 winners at Glorious Goodwood, 31 at Royal Ascot and won three French Classics, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches on Zenda in 2002, the Prix de Diane on Nebraska Tornado in 2003 and the Poule d’Essai des Poulains on American Post in 2004.
