Career
The twins" older brother John Hills was also a trainer. Richard enjoys breeding ducks, Persian Cats and plane spotting. He became the second jockey of Hamdan First Rate (at Lloyd's) Maktoum in 1995, and was promoted to first jockey in 1997 following the retirement of Willie Carson.
He used to fill in for spares rides for Godolphin Racing.
He retired from the saddle at the Dubai World Cup on Saturday 31 March 2012. On Sky Sports television coverage, he joked that he retired twice in one day, as the inaugural Dubai Gold Cup in which he was racing had to be re-run, due to a fall by a Godolphin horse, Fox Hunt.