Richard Cooper wins the 1913 Stewards Cup on Lord Annandale
Richard Cooper wins the 1913 Stewards Cup on Lord Annandale
John Richard Cooper rode under the name of R. Cooper.
He won his first big race in 1913, when getting the 25-1 outsider Lord Annandale home by a length and a half from Poor Boy in the Stewards' Cup. Lord Annandale, ridden by Steve Donoghue, returned in 1914, and dead-heated with Golden Sun.
John Richard Cooper, the son of a potter, was born at Stoke-on-Trent in 1893. He became apprenticed to Fred Pratt, who sent Atmah out to win the 1911 One Thousand Guineas.
Richard won the Goodwood Plate the next day riding Washing Day
Richard & Canard, winners of Lingfield's 1916 Felbridge Plate, returrning to the scales.
Richard and The Panther, winners of the 1919 Two Thousand Guineas
Richard married in August 1918 at the age of twenty-five. His wife, Ethel, bore him a child in 1924, and he subsequently made arrangements for her to join him in India, where he had taken up residence at 11a Mayfair, Ballygunge, Calcutta. There he resumed his riding career with considerable success. Yet despite his promises, he never sent Ethel the money she needed to make the journey. She heard nothing further from him until he reappeared in England in 1928, seeking a divorce. The marriage was finally dissolved in November 1936.