“Zara massages my leg every day,” explains Richard, who is the youngest-ever jockey to chalk up 100 wins in four consecutive seasons. “She has qualified as a sports masseuse and it has made a huge difference to the speed of my recovery.”
Princess Anne’s only daughter, blushes at the praise from her boyfriend, one of Britain’s most acclaimed young National Hunt Jockey. “If it has helped Richard I am delighted, but any good masseuse could have done the job as well.”
Zara is developing her knowledge even further by learning horse massage so that she can treat injured animals. “It’s another string to my bow. Whether I use that skill professionally to help my horses or those of friends remains to be seen. I just don’t know yet.”
Richard also finds it hard to plan the future too rigidly. The National Hunt Season now runs for virtually 12 months of the year and Richard will ride for 300 days during that period, travelling the length and breadth of the country. “I went straight into racing after completing my GCSEs at boarding school. It’s always been something I wanted to do. Dreams like that don’t always work out. I’m lucky that for me they have.”
So is Richard romantic? I ask. “Not exactly,” says Zara in a resigned, jokey way.
“With all the travelling and demands of the job I’m too tired to be romantic. At least, that’s my excuse,” adds Richard. “But I did get Zara some flowers once! I was doing a draw for a raffle and I won some flowers. So I thought, ‘Oh great, these’ll come in handy.’”
To read more about Richard Johnson and Zara Phillips and their aspirations for the future, checkout this week’s colourful Christmas double issue of HELLO! magazine, on sale now.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
