Johnson rides 2,000th winner Richard Johnson became just the second jockey to record 2,000 winners over jumps when successful aboard Fighting Chance at Newbury this afternoon. The Richard Lee trained gelding beat Wheels Up - appropriately ridden by his great rival Tony McCoy - to justify 4/1 favouritism in the Powersolve Electronics Greatwood Charity Handicap Chase. While undoubtedly one of the finest National Hunt jockeys ever, Johnson remains frustrated in his pursuit of McCoy, finishing second in the jump jockey's championship in 11 of the last 12 seasons. Big winners have flowed regularly for Johnson since his first success on 25/1 outsider Rusty Bridge in a hunter chase at Hereford on April 30, 1994. Chief among them were Looks Like Trouble in the 2000 Cheltenham Gold Cup and Flagship Uberalles in the Queen Mother Champion Chase two years later, while one of his most famous associations to date was with the 2003 Champion Hurdler Rooster Booster. Other star names to feature on the Johnson CV include Mighty Man, Viking Flagship,Detroit City and he also partnered the great Florida Pearl in the 2004 "Hennessy" at Leopardstown to an historic fourth success in the race. Johnson, 32, said "It's just lovely to get to this mark, and I'm just very lucky really. I think AP (McCoy) was just being nice to me not coming by me up the straight! It's fantastic to get here and there are too many people to thank." Johnson added: "AP shows no signs of stopping and I'll keep trying to get in front of him. He is not keen on letting anyone by him but as long as I'm enjoying it, I am not planning on stopping soon."
