Richard Shepherd

Richard James Shepherd was born on March 8, 1947. He twice won the Cheltenham Foxhunters’ Challenge Cup, on Straight Lady (1966) and Long Lane (1977).

Richard began riding in races in 1963 and rode his first winner on Straight Lady in the West of England Hunters’ Chase at Wincanton on April 23, 1964.

He won three more hunter chases on Straight Lady in the spring of 1965, beginning with the Pat Ruthven & Guy Nixon Memorial Vase at Wincanton on Easter Monday. In 1966 he rode her to victory in the Cheltenham Foxhunters, beating Puddle Jumper by three lengths.

Straight Lady won a second Pat Ruthven & Guy Nixon Memorial Vase in 1967 before being retired to stud, where she produced two top-flight hunter chasers in Long Lane and Mountolive.

Another good hunter chaser was Poulakerry. Richard won several races on him including the 1970 renewal of the Pat Ruthven & Guy Nixon Memorial Vase.

In 1977 Richard won two open point-to-points on Long Lane and then proceeded to win five out of six hunter chases on him. They included Cheltenham’s Foxhunters’ Challenge Cup (thereby emulating his dam), in which he gave Lord Fortune 2lb and beat him by 2½ lengths, along with Cheltenham’s United Hunts’ Challenge Cup and the Willoughby de Broke Challenge Trophy at Warwick.

In 1978 Richard won five hunter chases on Mountolive, including three at Cheltenham, but was beaten half a length by Timmie’s Battle in the Cheltenham Foxhunters’ Challenge Cup.

It must have been a great feeling for Richard to own and ride two such good horses as Long Lane and Mountolive, and also to have trained them at his yard at Cirencester.