Richard Hughes, the talented and controversial captain of the International Team to take on the South Africans, will also be a crowd hit when he takes to the irons on Friday and Sunday in South Africa.

Richard Hughes (born January 11, 1973) is an Irish flat jockey who most commonly rides in Great Britain. Born in Dublin, he is the son of successful National Hunt trainer, Dessie Hughes. His main provider of rides has been trainer Richard Hannon who is also his father in law and from 2001 to 2007 he was also retained by the owner Prince Khalid Abdullah. Hughes rides many winners every year and often threatens to challenge for the Champion Jockey title of most wins in the season, however his larger natural size means he cannot ride horses carrying light weights, reducing his winning opportunities.

Richard Hughes is respected for his riding style of 'nursing' horses along, getting horses to respond and run into the race without appearing to physically ride them hard.

Hughes is 5'10" in height, very tall for a flat jockey. This means he has to maintain his weight significantly below natural levels, even for a jockey.

In October 2011 Hughes received a five-day ban for hitting race-horse 'More Than Words' too many times with the whip inside the final furlong in a race at Kempton. The ban was the first of its kind to be implemented after a change in the rules regarding horse welfare. On the 13th October 2011, it was announced that Hughes would be giving up his racing licence and quiting the sport out of protest at the ban. 

Major race wins

Source: Racing Post, wikipedia