Richard Johnson: second winningmost National Hunt jockey in Britain

  PICTURE: Edward Whitaker  

Trainers lavish praise on Johnson achievement

LEADING trainers were united in paying tribute to Richard Johnson's achievement of riding 2,000 career winners.

Philip Hobbs:"Having ridden for a long time Richard is still massively reliable and extremely talented. He is a jockey liked and admired by owners, and everyone at the yard."

Nigel Twiston-Davies: "Richard Johnson is one of the nicest, straight up blokes you could ever hope to meet. And, of course, if Tony McCoy had never been born, he would have been champion for years. He’s a credit to the sport."

Paul Nicholls: "Any jockey who gets 2,000 wins is exceptionally talented and I think it would be fair to say he is the best jockey never to be champion. He is a good, consistent jockey and all credit to him for getting to 2,000 wins."

Alan King: "I’ve known Richard most of his career and I have to say he is an absolutely smashing bloke. Through all his years of success he has never changed and he has always been so consistent. He really deserves every success. It speaks volumes about Richard’s ability that McCoy is the only other jockey to have reached 2,000 wins."

Nicky Henderson: "A more likeable or dedicated person than Richard doesn't exist. He is such a consistent jockey, and by that I mean consistently top class. The fact that he is only the second jockey to 2,000 winners says it all. It is just jolly bad luck that he is in the same era as AP McCoy, because he certainly deserves to be a champion jockey at least once; it's a rather similar scenario to Mill House and Arkle. I always felt rather sorry for Mill House that he was born in the same generation, and it’s the same with Richard and AP."