From 'slave labour' to Sir: how racing's first knight transformed jockeys' lives

If records and statistics mean anything at all, Sir Gordon Richards is the greatest Flat jockey of all time.

Richards was decades ahead of his time in his obsession with riding as many winners as possible, his insatiable appetite and tunnel vision in pursuit of perfection making him a statistical phenomenon unrivalled until the emergence of Sir Anthony McCoy around 50 years later.

There are striking similarities between the pair. Richards’ 4,870 domestic victories make him the winningmost jockey of all time in Britain, with McCoy holding the jumps record with 4,204 (plus 144 in Ireland). Richards set the seasonal Flat record of 269 wins in 1947, which was also the overall record until McCoy won 289 races in the 2001-02 season. Their scores of 26 and 20 championships respectively are other records that may stand forever.