Richard Johnson is an incredible guy, very humble and a man who has always been there throughout my career.
Even when I was a kid, walking into the weighing room as an amateur at Exeter one day I remember both him and AP McCoy vividly. They came up to me at different stages of the afternoon and chatted to me. I was shy, it was my first time in that environment and I was in awe of both.
They made me feel very relaxed and welcome iand Richard has been a fantastic ambassador for racing, a true sporting great.
Just look all those battles, year in and year out, with AP and you never heard him say a bad word about anybody. He’s just a very humble guy.
He was a wonderful jockey, one of the strongest riders in a finish there’s ever been. When you got into a tight battle with him you nearly always knew your fate when he came looming alongside you. He was so hard to beat, so strong, so determined and the will-to-win took race riding to a new level.
He’ll leave a huge hole in the weighing room. I’m one of the senior guys now, Richard’s 43 and brought a great presence with him wherever he went on the course. He’s a wonderful person and the sport is very sad to lose him.
His retirement marks the end of an era following AP, Barry Geraghty and Ruby Walsh quitting the saddle in recent years. They were all very tough to beat but got the best out of each other. They knew they had to be at their best to win such was the level of competition.
It was an remarkable era for jockeys, they had to be on their A Game every single day, whether it was at Hereford on a Monday or Cheltenham on the Saturday. They competed against each other day in and day out and Richard’s retirement means we’ve said farewell to the final one of the best group of riders the sport has ever seen.
For Richard to have been competing for so many titles, for over 20 years, speaks volumes about him. It takes incredible determination and drive to do it just once – let alone that many times. It’s an amazing achievement and when AP was there every year, to pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and try and go and compete again must have been so hard.
But he did, got knocked down but got up again and to win four championships as he did was just reward. He’s an iron man.
I’m very very sad to see him go but I’m delighted I’ve celebrated an extraordinary career with him and that I’ve sat beside him for so many years in the weighing room.
I’m proud to have been his colleague and very, very proud to be his friend.
