Mr Richards (22), of Mosgiel, has been awarded the 2012 Sunline International Management Scholarship.
He will leave in February for the 30-week trip, spending 10 weeks each at Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket, England, Coolmore Stud in Ireland, and Taylor Made Stud in Kentucky, in the United States, experiencing each stud's operational infrastructure, systems and management.
The scholarship, which was launched in 2002, is sponsored by the Sunline Education Trust.
It aims to identify existing and potential managers within the New Zealand thoroughbred industry, offer them an opportunity to broaden their knowledge and experience, and highlight the diverse career options available within the international bloodstock business. Bruce Slade, who won the scholarship in 2008, is now racing manager for Sydney trainer Gai Waterhouse.
Mr Richards described it as a great opportunity to increase his experience, while seeing the world. He finished a bachelor of commerce degree in management and accounting at the University of Otago earlier this year, and is now doing a postgraduate diploma in marketing. He will spend the summer gaining stud experience, in preparation for his trip, by working at the Oaks thoroughbred stud in Cambridge.
Although he had the racing history, he needed experience working in the breeding side of the industry, he said.
He was born into the racing industry - his father, Paul Richards, now a Wingatui trainer, had been a jockey, riding 1078 winners before retiring from race-riding in 2004 - and his mother, Leanne, is president of the Otago Racing Club.
He always wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a jockey but he joked that his mother "was a bit tall so that sort of ruined that".
He has his amateur licence, has ridden trackwork for both his father and other trainers and worked and travelled throughout New Zealand and Australia.
As part of the scholarship, Mr Richards has to work within the thoroughbred industry for 12 months on his return to New Zealand.
Although times were "pretty tough" in racing, it was an industry he loved and one to which he hoped to make a contribution.
