Richard learned the art of training flat races from Classic winning trainer, Henry Candy where he was his number two for eight years. Although Richard primarily trained National Hunt horses, he has trained flat winners for the Maktoum family and Lord Vestey and then went on to train his first listed winner in 2002 with Averted View.

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However, Richard’s main success has come through jump racing. In the early years, high class chasers such as Time Wont Wait, Gnome’s Tycoon and Noble Lord, proved to the racing community that Phillips had the talent to train at the highest level. It was Richard’s move to Jackdaws Castle in 2000 that caused his training career to take off. Replacing Champion trainer, David Nicholson, at the finest state of the art training complex in the country, gave Phillips the opportunity to show his true skills and he and his team answered every call.

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Following J P McManus’ purchase of Jackdaws Castle, Jonjo O’Neill was installed and Phillips was forced to find a new base. With Richard keen to keep his excellent team together, the beautiful Cotswold village of Adlestrop was converted into one of the finest training operations in the country. Richard’s first year there gained him his first Cheltenham Festival winner with La Landiere, her seventh win in a row and followed on from a brilliant success in one of the country’s most valuable handicap chases, The Racing Post Chase.

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On the back of that success, Richard now has a fine team of young horses to help Richard go right to the very top of his profession.

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