Horse racing is very much a family affair for the Richards family.

Nicky is the third generation to be involved in the sport, following in the footsteps of his father, legendary Gordon W Richards who died in 1998.

That has left Nicky at the helm of the Richards racing empire for the past two decades.

“It is something that you seem to get into and it seems to get hold of you a bit,” he says, discussing a sport that has played a huge part in his life.

“My father did it before me and his father before him, so it is just part of what we seem to do.”

As I meet the Alnwick-born man at his stables in Greystoke, near Penrith, where he has been based for nearly 50 years, it is very much all systems go with Richards in the process of entering his horses ahead of two days of racing at Perth, Scotland.

Richards admits he is currently focusing on conditioning his horses.

“Yeah. This is the time of year that we are bringing them in and starting to condition them and everything,” he says.

“We are getting fairly busy.”

Maintaining dozens of horses is a constant task throughout the year.

Richards, who specialises in National Hunt racing, explains the pattern his racing year usually takes.

“It is 12 months of the year, but a traditional National Hunt horse has a summer break,” he says.

“Then you bring them in, in the back end of July or early August. Then, you have got the fitness process where most trainers try to work on 90 days before they get their first run. So, it is quite a while and a lot of work.”

But the Cumbrian trainer, 62, has a team of staff that assist him with the maintenance of his horses.

“If you have the number of horses that I have got, then you need quite a few people to help me,” he concedes.

“It is a good team here.”

At last week’s meet in Perth, Richards had a quiet time of it, with Northern Irish jockey Brian Hughes coming second on Caius Marcius on the Tuesday evening, before a third-placed finish on board Petite Ganache the following afternoon.

In the other races, Danny McMenamin came fifth on board Shackles with Hughes also picking up a sixth-placed finish with Strait Of Magellan in the T’Go Creative – Design, Print And Web Handicap Hurdle race.

“It is steady through the summer for us,” Richards, one of The Cumberland News Carlisle United pundits, admits. “I don’t have too many summer jumping horses.”

Clearly, Carlisle is Richards’ local track, but he believes his stables are well located to travel to a number of tracks, including Hexham, Cartmel, Ayr, Catterick and Doncaster as well as the Durdar Road venue.

He admits: “We are very well situated. We can be at a lot of race tracks in two hours.

"We can get to all the Yorkshire tracks in two hours. Perth will take us under three hours. It is quite a distance, but it is a good road. We are very lucky where we can get to.”

Of course, any trainer is only as good as his horses, and Richards believes he has the right mix of old and young horses at his yard.

“I have some good, old horses that did me very well last year,” he adds.

“Simply Ned and Duke Of Navan, and Guitar Pete was a very good horse. Baywing was very good, as well.

“There was a good few of them that were good, high-class horses.

“Hopefully, we will have a lot of fun with them this year. But you also need your young horses coming on in behind them.

“I have a good bunch of young ones stepping in behind them, as well.”