Amateur rider Richard Alastair Stuart-Hunt served with the 3rd Carabineers and had one of his earliest rides under rules at Sandown Park when finishing seventh on Kincora in the 1965 Grand Military Gold Cup. His racing colours were navy blue, red and yellow sash, white sleeves, black and white quartered cap.
The following year he rode his own horse Osberstown Squire in the same race, again finishing in seventh place. Osberstown Squire, who was trained by Toby Balding had earlier been Richard’s first winner when landing the Red April Chase at Wincanton on February 24, 1966.
He had to wait until August 1968 before gaining his second success under NH rules, again on one of his own horses trained by Toby Balding: River Aisne at Devon & Exeter. They followed up with victory at Stratford four weeks later.
It was not until 1976 that Richard next visited the winner’s enclosure. However, it proved to be by far his most successful, season, achieving a 50 per cent strike rate of eight wins, all in hunter chases, from 16 rides between February and May.
Five of those victories were gained on his hunter chaser Smilbo Smaggins, whom he also trained. They began their winning ways in the Leicestershire Maiden Hunters’ Chase, followed up at Warwick, then went on to win the Duke of Gloucester Memorial Hunters’ Chase at Sandown’s Grand Military meeting, the United Hunt’s Open Champion Hunters’ Chase at Folkestone, and (just 48 hours after the Folkestone victory) the United Hunts’ Challenge Cup at Cheltenham’s April fixture, that race by then no longer forming part of the National Hunt Meeting.
Two other wins that season came courtesy of Master Vesuvius, including the Somerset Hunters’ Perpetual Challenge Cup Chase at Taunton, while the last of the eight was gained on False Note in the prestigious Willoughby De Broke Challenge Trophy Hunter Chase at Warwick.
Richard and Smilbo Smaggins finished second three times in 1977 but won just once, that being the Clive Memorial Challenge Cup Hunters’ Chase at Hereford’s Whit Monday fixture.
His final winner under National Hunt rules was at Leicester on February 2, 1981, aboard Gypsy Inn in the corresponding Leicestershire Maiden Hunters’ Chase he had won on Smilbo Smaggins five years earlier.
Richard Stuart-Hunt died on November 24, 2001 in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. His wife Lindsey had predeceased him. They had two daughters, Melanie and Samantha.
Richard Stuart-Hunt’s winners were, in chronological order:
1. Osberstown Squire, Wincanton, February 2, 1966
2. River Aisne, Devon & Exeter, August 7, 1968
3. River Aisne, Stratford-on-Avon, September 7, 1968
4. Smilbo Smaggins, Leicester, February 10, 1976
5. Smilbo Smaggins, Warwick, March 2, 1976
6. Smilbo Smaggins, Sandown Park, March 13, 1976
7. Master Vesuvius, Chepstow, March 20, 1976
8. Master Vesuvius, Taunton, March 25, 1976
9. Smilbo Smaggins, Folkestone, April 26, 1976
10. Smilbo Smaggins, Cheltenham, April 28, 1976
11. False Note, Warwick, May 22, 1976
12. Smilbo Smaggins, Hereford, June 6, 1977
13. Gypsy Inn, Leicester, February 2, 1981