Husband, wife team bringing 2 horses to steeplechase
Richard Boucher rides horses, while Lilith Boucher trains them.
It wasn’t too many years ago when Lilith Boucher thought about taking up golf. She quickly dismissed the notion after determining she could not have the two most expensive sports in America as her passions.
Lilith Boucher and her husband, Richard Boucher, based in the Camden, South Carolina, area during the spring and summer racing season are planning to bring a couple of fillies to the Atlanta Steeplechase at Kingston Downs, 502 Bass Ferry Road, on Saturday.
Both Quiet Virtue, of Westerly Farm, and Atlanta Babe, owned by Lady Olivia Northcliff Stables, are targeting the same maiden hurdle race.
Lilith Boucher trains the horses and her husband is a veteran jockey. In fact he won the prestigious Georgia Cup at the Atlanta Steeplechase on Complete Zen in 2011.
Lilith Boucher grew up riding show horses.
“This seemed to be a natural progression,” she said.
Richard Boucher, who hails from England, was also essentially bred into the industry.
“His parents also had an interest in steeplechasing,” his wife said.
Lilith Boucher said virtually all horses have the capability of being a jumper.
“In the first 30 days you can almost tell if they’re not going to,” she said. “Sometimes you can tell if they’re not going to make the transition from flat horses to jumpers. They have to have a certain disposition.”
Lilith Boucher called horse training a near 24/7 occupation.
“Having horses is about the same as having a house full of kids ages 2 to teenager, it’s a never-ending supervision,” she said.
Many jumpers also go on to a third career after flat racing and jumping. She said the successful steeplechasers often go on to fox hunting, showing or special eventing. Many of the top steeplechasers have careers that extend between five and ten years.
According to the industry website Equibase, Richard Boucher, who has been riding competitively for more than 30 years, has enjoyed a highly successful career with more than $3.8 million in earnings for the owners of his mounts. He’s finished in the money more than 600 times, including 160 first-place finishes.
His wife was quick to point out
that the sport is not about the money.
“If your horse pays its own way I think you’ve done well. You do it because you have a love of it,” she said.
Richard Boucher credits a lot of his success to doing his homework and getting to know his horses.
“Some of these guys have never been on the horse before and have to figure it out in the first 10 minutes in the paddock or going to the start,” he said. “A lot of it is natural instinct and feel.”
Once the race starts, Richard Boucher said he is completely focused on getting his horse around
the track. It doesn’t bother him that the crowd at Kingston Downs is just as interested in partying as it is in watching the races.
“Fortunately for us we can still go to the social party and make a living as well,” he said. “We provide the entertainment for the party and we get paid to do it, so that’s fine by me.”
General admission tickets are between $32 and $40, and are still available at atlantasteeplechase.org. The gates to Kingston Downs, on a bend of the Etowah River on the Floyd-Bartow County line, open at 9 a.m., with all sorts of activity leading up to the first race at 1:30 p.m.