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During his distinguished career he rode 1,699
winners in Britain and became champion jockey three times, a feat which
earned him the MBE in 1993. Game Trust provided his first winner in 1983
at Cheltenham, Yorkshire Edition at Wincanton in 1999 was his
record-breaking 1,679th.
Racing over 10,000 times, his career high points include winning the
Grand National on West Tip in 1986 and Minnehoma in 1994 as well as the
Gold Cup on Charter Party in 1988. His best season saw him ride 197
winners in 1993/94. Yet, to the racing public, he is best known for his
partnership with the hugely popular Desert Orchid. The pair won seven
races, including the King George V1 Chase in 1989 and 1990. He then
completed jump racings Big Treble by landing the Champion Hurdle on
Kribensis in 1990, only the fourth jockey since the war to have done so.
A supreme stylist, his peers dubbed him Dunwoody 'The Prince'.
Dunwoody's successes continued throughout the nineties, including a
string of big race wins aboard another popular bold jumping grey, One
Man, and early in 1999 he overtook Peter Scudamore's record of all-time
winners.
The Ulsterman's eventual retirement in December 1999 was not planned. An
injury to his right arm failed to heal properly and the three-times
champion decided to call it a day before he was forced to. Former
champion jockey and Channel 4 racing pundit John Francome paid Dunwoody
the ultimate compliment when he said: 'He made bad horses look good and
every day he was at his best'.
Richard was also voted National Hunt Jockey of the Year by his fellow
jockeys in 1990/92/93/94/95 and he was voted Champion of Champions in
2001. He has appeared on many terrestrial, local and satellite
television programmes (including 'This is Your Life', Call My Bluff,
Ready Steady Cook, Blankety Blank and Question of Sport).
Over the years he has contributed columns to the Mail on Sunday and the
Daily Telegraph and has collaborated on four books on racing 'Hell for
Leather' (1993), "Duel" (1994) 'Hands and Heels' (1997) and his
autobiography 'Obsessed' (2000).
In 2001 Richard travelled for 5 months on a solo trek to Australia, New
Zealand and South America to fulfil a life long dream. In 2002 he went
on a two week expedition to the Arctic and contested the Polar Race,
where his team finished 2nd in a 400 mile trek to the magnetic north
pole.
Success as a champion jockey, coupled with knowledge gained from
challenges including the race to the Magnetic North Pole and climbing
the highest mountain in the Andes have given him a unique insight in
peak performance.
His motivational themes include:
Learning From Mistakes
Overcoming the Fear of Failure
Controlling the Controllable
Breaking the Performance Barrier
The Making of a Champion
Building a High Performance Team
Richard is an extremely competent motivational and after dinner speaker
sharing his experiences as a top sportsman in a highly competitive
environment with business audiences. He describes his style as
anecdotal, sports related and business orientated.
His interests include rugby, football, motor sports and he spent two
seasons driving Formula First racing cars.
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