Nicholas Gordon “Nicky” Richards is
based at Greystoke Stables – the yard made famous by his father,
the late Gordon W. Richards – near Penrith, Cumbria. Nicky took
over the licence at Greystoke following the sudden death of his
father in September, 1998, and saddled his first winner, Better Times
Ahead, in a two-runner handicap chase at Carlisle the following
month.
Richards Jnr. achieved his first major
success with Feels Like Gold in the Becher Chase, over the Aintree Grand National fences, in November, 1999. However, having
inherited a yard whose established stars were on the wane, it was
nearly four years until he achieved his second, The French Furze, in
the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle in November, 2003. Faasel went
perilously close to winning the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham
Festival in 2005, eventually going down by a head, but put matters
right when winning 4-Y-O Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree the following
month by 7 lengths.
Unquestionably the most successful
horse he has trained, so far, though, was Monet’s Garden, who won
17 of his 32 starts under National Hunt Rules between 2003 and 2010
and earned £683,285 in total prize money. Monet’s Garden won three
Grade 1 races, the Ascot Chase and the Melling Chase at Aintree in
2007 and the Ascot Chase, again, in 2010.
The popular grey also won the Old Roan
Chase at Aintree three times, in 2007, 2009, 2010, on the first
occasion beating Kauto Star, who was conceding 14lb, by 1½ lengths.
He was retired from racing following his third victory in the race
and, after making a full recovery from navicular disease – a
potentially life-threatening hoof infection – his owner, David
Wesley Yates, said, “The trouble is that he doesn’t know
he’s retired, and he is very fit, well and fresh, so we’re
hoping he doesn’t do anything daft.”
Richards enjoyed his best season ever,
in terms of both total number of winners and total prize money in
2006/07, thanks mainly to the exploits of Monet’s Garden. At the
end of that season, he had saddled 64 winners and earned £787,140 in
total prize money.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t reached the
same level since but, nevertheless, continues to saddle high-profile
winners granted the right ammunition. In 2017, he trained Baywing to
win the Towton Novices’ Chase at Wetherby, Guitar Pete to win the
bet365 Handicap Chase at Wetherby and the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at
Cheltenham and the Simply Ned to win the Paddy’s Reward Club
Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse. More recently, Baywing also won the
valuable Eider Handicap Chase at Newcastle in February, 2018.
