He was thoroughly dedicated to his sport, almost too much so as his book "Obsessed" portrays.

I would rate him as one of the top 5 jockeys ever over fences alongside Francome, Scudamore, McCoy and Jonjo O'Neill.

Dunwoody was quite a tall jockey and therefore found it hard to ride at the minimum weight of 10st. His perfect weight was about 10st 5lbs.

He first grabbed the headlines when riding a four timer as an amateur in 1984 at Hereford.

From there, he rose steadily through the ranks and winning the 1986 Grand National on West Tip definitely put him in the racing spotlight.
He actually rode West Tip five times in the National and reached the frame on every occasion bar the first where they fell at Beecher's on the second circuit when looking like winning.

His riding also improved and he became very strong in a finish and not so reliant on the whip.

After being UK Champion three years in a row in 1992/3,1993/4 & 1994/5 he started to accept more rides in Ireland and was able to pick & choose his rides.

So, the number of rides dropped slightly as he commuted between the UK & Ireland and McCoy took over as Champion.

He holds the record for most centuries ridden, 10, between 1989/90 and 1998/9. He also rode 18 Cheltenham Festival winners between 1985 & 1998 and two Breeders' Cup Chase wins on Highland Bud in 1989 & 92.

Towards the end of his career his neck and arm started to give him trouble as a result of falls and it was this injury that finally made him stop in December 1999.

Richard was a very dedicated individual who always wanted to improve and hated losing. He himself admits that being out of the saddle has been difficult to deal with.

Before retiring he had already started "Dunwoody Sports Marketing" and he took up motor racing as a hobby.

He then started up as an agent, not in horse racing, but in football. He took part in the Polar Challenge in 2003 which consisted of trying to be the fastest to the North Pole. He then ran in the 2004 London Marathon.....so all in all he has been extremely busy off the track.

He is available through JockeysRoom.com for corporate events and motivational or sporting speaking engagements. Please contact Nick Higgins on 07796 99 68 99 regarding this.

Best Horses Ridden
Desert Orchid, Waterloo Boy, West Tip, Kribensis, Remittance Man,Very Promising, Sound Man, Viking Flagship, Minnehoma, One Man, Highland Bud, Florida Pearl, Doran's Pride.

Richard Dunwoody Career Wins