THE announcement was a shock, coming as it did just before the Grand National, one of the few big races he had yet to win, but it’s typical of the man that Richard Johnson should mark his retirement after riding for Philip Hobbs at Newton Abbot, ensuring the focus was on the trainer to whom Johnson felt his closest alliance.

Almost a third of Johnson’s career total of 3,800 British winners were gained on runners trained by Philip Hobbs, including one memorable one on board Brother Tedd, who won the race in which Johnson’s friend and rival Tony McCoy bowed out at Sandown in April 2015.

It was therefore apt that Johnson’s final ride should come on Brother Tedd, and the jockey stood himself down from his final ride so that he could say that he was riding for old ally Hobbs on the final occasion that he weighed out.

It started with his father’s bone-idle hunter chaser Rusty Bridge, after whom a bar is now named at Hereford racecourse, and it ended with Camprond at lowly Taunton late last month.

In between there were 3,819 other winners, making Richard Johnson the second most successful jumps jockey in history. It would have been easy for the former champion to have waited a week, and a victory on Native River in the Betway Bowl would have provided headlines fitting one of the most dedicated sportsmen the country has produced in a century, but looking for headlines has never been a Johnson trait.

McCoy’s shadow

Richard Johnson has often been characterised as living his professional life in the shadow of McCoy, having been runner-up 16 times to his nemesis in the jockeys’ table. It’s wrongly assumed that McCoy’s retirement allowed him to fall across the line to finally land the championship for himself.

The figures show that Johnson strove harder than ever to prove himself in the post-McCoy era, achieving his best-ever total of 235 wins in the 2015-16 season, and taking over 1,000 mounts in that and the next season despite heading into the apparent twilight of his career.

It’s hard to imagine his equivalent in any other sport. He took a hammering from the sport’s outstanding competitor for 16 years, and had been riding for 21 seasons when that champion finally shuffled into the wings. Hanging on for a year to finally get a taste of glory is understandable, but Johnson raised his game, and was crowned champion himself four times, showing an almost incomprehensible endurance.

Despite his success, he is universally acclaimed as the most humble member of the weighing room, and was awarded the OBE in 2019 in recognition of his achievements. Typically, his colleagues praised not only his competitive spirit and skill in the saddle, but also his fundamental decency and regard for his fellow man. He is, undoubtedly, a great champion, but more importantly, he is a thoroughly decent, unassuming and honourable man, and that will be his epitaph.

McCoy himself spoke to the heart of the issue when paying tribute to his old friend and rival.

“On a professional level I probably got to know him better than anyone, and he’s a brilliant man to be around, a fantastic jockey and unbelievably competitive.

“He also has a great work ethic and is the fairest jockey you could ever ride against, so he has deserved all of his success.

“As I’ve said many times, having Richard to compete against for all of those years definitely made me a better jockey. But, however good a jockey you think he is, he’s an even better person.”