Susannah Ricci

The owner of Yotes Court Vineyard, near Maidstone, Kent, Susannah Ricci is the wife of banker Richard ‘Rich’ Ricci, alongside whom she has been a high-profile National Hunt owner since 2005. The majority of her horses are trained in Ireland, by Willie Mullins, but she also has some with Alan King and Venetia Williams in Britain.

As far as the Cheltenham Festival is concerned, Ricci first tasted victory with Mikael D’Haguenet, trained by Mullins and ridden by Ruby Walsh, in the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle in 2009. Her now-familiar green and pink silks have since been carried to victory, at the time of writing, another 24 times at the March showpiece meeting. Ricci has a particularly good record in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle and Champion Hurdle, each of which she has won three times.

In recent seasons, just two Ricci-owned horses have been responsible for six Cheltenham Festival victories between them. The Great Pretender mare Lossiemouth won the Triumph Hurdle in 2023, back-to-back renewals of the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle in 2024 and 2025 and the Champion Hurdle in 2026, while the Maxios gelding Gaelic Warrior won the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 2025 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2026, thereby completing a notable feature-race double for his owner.

Ricci had previously won the Champion Hurdle twice before, with Faugheen (2015) and Annie Power (2016), and the Arkle Challenge Trophy once before, with Douvan (2016). Of the remaining feature races at the Festival, Ricci has also won the Ryanair Chase twice, with Vautour (2016) and Min (2020). Six times a Grade 1 winner over fences in Ireland, Chacun Pour Soi was sent off as odds-on favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2021, but found little on the run-in and eventually finished third, beaten a length and a half by the winner, Put The Kettle On.