British · Donnington Wood, Shropshire, England · Born 5 May 1904 · Died 1986-11-10English flat racing jockey and the only one ever knighted, who was champion jockey a record 26 times and remains the most successful rider in British racing history with 4,870 career winners.
Sir Gordon Richards was born on 5 May 1904 in Donnington Wood, Shropshire, the son of a coal miner, and rode his first winner, Gay Lord, at Leicester on 31 March 1921 at age 16. He became champion jockey for the first time in his first full professional season in 1925, riding 118 winners, but his career was jeopardized the following year by a diagnosis of tuberculosis that forced a year in a sanatorium. Richards returned to reclaim the championship in 1927 and went on to dominate British flat racing for three decades, winning the title 26 times between 1925 and 1953 - missing out only in 1930, 1931, and 1941, the latter due to a broken leg. In 1933 he broke Fred Archer's career record of 2,749 winners, and in 1943 he set a British single-season record of 269 winners that stood until beaten by Tony McCoy in 2002. His riding partnership with trainer Fred Darling produced numerous major wins, including four British Classics in a single 1942 season aboard Sun Chariot and Big Game for King George VI. Despite his sustained excellence, the Derby eluded Richards for 27 attempts until 1953, when - weeks after becoming the first jockey ever knighted, in that year's Coronation Honours - he won the 'Coronation Derby' aboard Pinza, beating the Queen's own horse Aureole into second. He retired in July 1954 after breaking his pelvis and four ribs in a paddock accident, finishing with 4,870 winners from 21,843 rides, a British record that stood until 1956. Richards went on to a modest training career at Beckhampton, Ogbourne Maizey, and Whitsbury, winning the 1958 Cambridgeshire Handicap among other races, before his death from a heart attack on 10 November 1986 at age 82.
Being champion jockey a record 26 times and the only flat jockey in history to receive a knighthood, capped by finally winning the Derby the same year he was knighted
How They Played
Renowned for a distinctive long-rein, upright riding style and exemplary integrity, prized by trainers for remarkable consistency across three decades in the saddle
Lasting Impact
Widely regarded as one of the greatest jockeys in history, whose sustained three-decade dominance of British flat racing and unmatched title haul set standards that shaped the sport's modern era
Career Honours
- Record 26x British Champion Jockey (1925-1953)
- Only flat jockey ever knighted (1953)
- 4,870 career winners - British record at retirement
- British single-season record of 269 winners (1947, stood until 2002)
British Athletes