Glorious Goodwood 2015: Richard Hughes bows out of life in the saddle with no regrets

Champion jockey fails to end his riding career with a winner but looks forward to giving his best in the uncertain world of training

Richard Hughes waves as he walks through a guard of honour at the end of an emotional day (Getty)

Even Richard Hughes cannot have anticipated the generosity of his reception. Just imagine what it would have been like if he had concluded his career on a winner.

From picnickers alongside the straight and up on Trundle Hill to the chic members parading in their finery in the Richmond enclosure, the respect, appreciation and endearment was universal as he dismounted after his final ride, in acknowledgement that his name, so inextricably linked with Glorious Goodwood, will never again appear on racecards. At least not as a jockey. The next time it will be in evidence will be as trainer to one of the 60 or more horses he plans to install at his new base in Hampshire.

As he returned on the Brian Meehan-trained Fox Trotter, having finished no closer than fourth in the last of his six races on an afternoon when overall he drew a blank, the reception was more akin to the return of an all-conquering hero.

Hughes appeared faintly embarrassed, but blew kisses to a public which has long admired this superb judge of pace as he was greeted with a handshake from his trainer and brother-in-law, Richard Hannon; was hugged by the Festival’s leading jockey, with six wins, Frankie Dettori; and just about found time for another embrace from his mother, Eileen, before being left saturated by champagne sprayed by his fellow jockeys.

“Hey,” shouted Mick Channon, the England football international turned racing trainer, knowingly: “Now your problems begin…”

“I’m relieved – and wet,” Hughes laughingly reflected on becoming an ex-jockey. “I’m overcome by the whole thing. Everything went according to plan – apart from a winner. I’m ready to retire.”

Earlier, the Irishman’s fellow jockeys and valets had formed a guard of honour as he strode out for the first race. It was entirely fitting that racing’s “Long Fellow” of the 21st century should retire on turf to which he had become so associated he might have had squatter’s rights.

Richard Hughes will leave a sizeable bootprint on the Turf both in terms of achievement and talent (Getty)

The original “Long Fellow” was Lester Piggott, of course, a fellow battler of the scales. Hughes is two inches taller than Piggott at 5ft 10in, and in the Lilliputian world of Flat jockeys that makes him a colossus who has had to watch the pounds dutifully – begrudgingly, at times.

The Irishman wouldn’t object to such a comparison with Piggott, the jockey he most admires and with whom his style has frequently been compared, if not his record. A nine-time Derby winner and 11 times champion jockey Piggott had no equals. In contrast, Hughes, 42, required 24 years to claim the first of three successive jockeys’ titles in 2012, and it wasn’t until the following year that he partnered his two Classic winners, Sky Lantern in the 1,000 Guineas and Talent in the Oaks.

Yet the Dubliner will leave his own sizeable bootprint on the Turf, not just in terms of achievement and talent, with Piggott having commended his “skill and nerve – a past master at putting his horse’s head in front on the line”, but in how he quelled that fiend alcoholism to do so.

Hughes, for so long associated with the Hannon stable – first with Richard Snr, and now Richard Jnr – says the fact that many of the best rides in the powerful yard are no longer his because their owners retain their own jockeys made his decision to quit an easy one. While it appears curious to depart mid-season while a strong contender for another jockeys’ championship, there is a method to his apparent madness. He believes his first full year’s training will be the most important and feels he needs to focus fully on purchasing bloodstock.

He will have heeded the warnings about his new career. There is no certainty that top jockeys can make a successful transition to the training fraternity. But Hughes has connections, and explains that John Magnier’s Coolmore operation, successful here in the Group One Qatar Nassau Stakes with Legatissimo, trained by David Wachman and ridden by Wayne Lordan, will be supporting him.

Richard Hughes riding his last winner, Belvoir Bay, on Friday (Reuters)

Hughes gave it his all in the first race, the Stewards’ Sprint Stakes, but his mount, Barnet Fair, could only manage runner-up to Golden Steps, ridden by Dettori, who proceeded to secure a second win of the afternoon on the 6-1 joint-favourite Magical Memory in the Qatar Stewards’ Cup. It’s an experience Hughes knows well, having won four Stewards’ Cups among 179 Goodwood victories in all, 56 of them in Festival races.

Asked how he would celebrate last night, he retorted: “I’m going to eat – a lot.” And he will quit smoking, just as he promised his late father, the trainer Dessie Hughes. “It’s been an excuse all my life [part of his weight-regulating regime],” he said. “It’s not an excuse any more.”

On Thursday he will visit a hypnotist to help him give up the smoking habit. Some may suggest he should also visit a psychiatrist to dissuade him against a future in that most perilous of professions: racehorse training. But this defiant individual has demonstrated he is not a man who will allow any ambition to be thwarted.

Best of breed: Five famous rides

Sky Lantern: Hughes rode the filly in all her 16 races, and brought the 2013 1,000 Guineas winner home in style to land that year’s Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot by four lengths.

Nebraska Tornado: Hughes insists the André Fabre-trained was the best filly he rode, and partnered her to victory at Longchamp in 2003 in the Prix Du Moulin by half a length.

Toronado: Hughes galvanised the colt to a Sussex Stakes triumph at Goodwood in 2013.

Youmzain: Hughes timed his late run to perfection in the 2006 Great Voltigeur at York.

Sole Power: Hughes judged the pace brilliantly to claim last year’s King Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on the top sprinter.