Champion Jockey: Oisin Murphy

Over the years, the beautiful and historic estate of Kingsclere on the Hampshire/Berkshire border in the south of England has been home to many famous horses. John Porter trained some champions there in the late 19th and early 20th century including the Triple Crown winners Ormonde (1886), Common (1891) and Flying Fox (1899).

Kingsclere’s two most recent custodians have been Ian Balding, who succeeded Peter Hastings in 1964 before gaining everlasting fame as the trainer of the great 1971 Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Mill Reef (USA) (Never Bend {USA}); and then his son Andrew who took over in 2003 and promptly saddled the Oaks winner Casual Look (USA) (Red Ransom {USA}).

Aside from Classic winners, though, a further common theme running through the Baldings’ tenure at Kingsclere has been the top-class jockeys whom father and son have nurtured. Ian Balding was mentor to numerous successful apprentices, at least two of whom (Philip Waldron and John Matthias) became multiple Group 1-winning senior riders.

Andrew has carried on the tradition, with Britain’s jockeys’ ranks currently containing several former Kingsclere apprentices including Martin Dwyer, Liam Keniry, William Buick, David Probert, Rob Hornby, Jack Garrity, Joey Haynes and Jason Watson. Britain’s newly-crowned champion jockey Oisin Murphy, who further extended his list of achievements on Sunday by winning the G1 Japan Cup on Suave Richard (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}), now looks set to establish himself as the greatest of them all.

Born in Co. Kerry in the west of Ireland in September 1995, Oisin Murphy rode ponies as a child and always had racing on his radar, largely thanks to the exploits of his uncle Jim Culloty, a fellow Kerryman who at the time was a successful jumps jockey in England. Murphy was aged six when Uncle Jim rode Bindaree (Ire) (Roselier {Fr}) to win the world’s greatest steeplechase, the Grand National at Aintree, in 2002, and eight when he and Best Mate (Ire) (Un Desperado {Fr}) completed a hat-trick of victories in the 2004 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Murphy was aged 18 when Jim Culloty, by now back in Ireland and training in Co. Cork, saddled the 2014 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Lord Windermere (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}). Murphy, however, had moved over to England by then, having signed on as an apprentice at Kingsclere as soon as he was allowed to leave school. He was instantly successful.

An instant success

In his first season, 2013, he had already had his claim reduced from 7lb to 5lb (ie he had reached the 20-winner milestone) when, 15 days after his 18th birthday, he rode a 9,250/1 four-timer at Ayr on Scotland’s biggest raceday of the year, most notably guiding 20/1 chance Highland Colori (Ire) (Le Vie Dei Colori {GB}), trained by his boss, to victory in the feature, the Ayr Gold Cup.

To the surprise of nobody, Oisin Murphy was Great Britain’s Champion Apprentice the following season (2014). His seasonal total (76) was the highest apprentice’s tally since subsequent dual Champion Jockey Paul Hanagan had topped the table with 81 wins in 2002; and this was the second time that Andrew Balding had supplied the top apprentice, following the 2008 season when colleagues William Buick and David Probert had shared the title with 50 wins.

Subsequently, in 2018 Jason Watson became the fourth Andrew Balding apprentice to become Champion Apprentice. Murphy had begun 2014 in the best possible style: during a successful three-month stint in Victoria based with Danny O’Brien, he rode the winner of the feature race at Flemington on New Year’s Day, guiding the Nigel Blackiston-trained Outback Joe (Elvstroem) to victory in the Bagot H. over 2800 metres.

He then hit the ground running back in the UK, riding his first Group winner on the Qatar Racing-owned, Kevin Ryan-trained Hot Streak (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) in the G2 Temple S. at Haydock Park in May. By the end of the season, it was clear that he was potentially a Champion Jockey of the future.

Only 24

Oisin Murphy has now been a senior jockey for five years. He has achieved so much in that time (including landing the first of what is likely to be several jockeys’ premierships) that it is easy to forget that he is still aged only 24. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, although mostly it has.

He began his career in the senior ranks as second jockey (behind Jamie Spencer) to Qatar Racing. When Spencer subsequently quit his position, many were surprised that Murphy was not automatically promoted to the top job, with Andrea Atzeni being brought in to share the duties with him. Sensibly, Murphy handled any perceived slight with good grace, just continuing to do his job well and to conduct himself diplomatically until, needless to say, he was made the operation’s principal rider a year later.

If he was in any undue hurry to get to the top, it was only his riding which gave the game away: he went through a period of seemingly erring too much on the side of aggression during a race, causing unnecessary interference on occasions. However, he soon learned by his mistakes. Before too long, he had become the complete jockey, able to look back at his younger self with characteristic self-criticism and concede that he had formerly been “probably a little cheeky”.

Oisin Murphy rode his first top-level winner on the Martyn Meade-trained Aclaim (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp on ‘Arc Day’ in October 2017. Two weeks later he repeated the feat in Canada on the Andrew Balding-trained Blond Me (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) in the G1 E. P. Taylor S. at Woodbine.

By the time that turf racing had resumed in Great Britain in the spring of 2018, he had further expanded his international roll of honour by winning the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan on Dubai World Cup Night for Godolphin on Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). Later in the year he would win a Group 1 race in Germany on Benbatl before finishing second on the seasoned traveller behind Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) in the Cox Plate.

Coming of age

The 2018 season proved to be the one in which Oisin Murphy truly came of age. He rode eight Group 1 winners in Europe, half of them in his high-profile role as the rider of Qatar Racing’s star 3-year-old Roaring Lion (USA) (Kitten’s Joy {USA}) who ended the year as Cartier Horse of the Year.

After good but fruitless runs in the 2000 Guineas and Derby, the pair blossomed in tandem, taking the G1 Eclipse S. at Sandown, the G1 Juddmonte International S. at York, the G1 Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown and the G1 QIPCO Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot, on that final occasion giving Qatar Racing principal Sheikh Fahad al Thani a special thrill when his favourite horse won a feature race at the headline championship race-meeting which he sponsors.

Aside from his big wins on the John Gosden-trained Roaring Lion and the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Benbatl, Oisin Murphy also scored major triumphs in 2018 on the Qatar Racing-owned, David Simcock-trained Lightning Spear (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) in the G1 Sussex S. at Goodwood; on the James Fanshawe-trained veteran The Tin Man (GB) (Equiano {Fr}) in the G1 Haydock Park Sprint Cup; and on the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Royal Marine (Ire) (Raven’s Pass {USA}) in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp. He finished the turf season in Great Britain as runner-up in the jockeys’ premiership, trailing Silvestre De Sousa 148 to 121, with 2016 champion Jim Crowley in third.

This year Oisin Murphy has been dominant, ending the premiership season as Champion Jockey with 168 wins (out of his current total of 220 British wins in 2019, 63 more than anyone else) ahead of Danny Tudhope (133), Jim Crowley (99) and Tom Marquand (90).

He and Qatar Racing look to have unearthed another superstar in the shape of the Andrew Balding-trained 2-year-old Kameko (USA) (Kitten’s Joy {USA}) who landed the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy S. at Newcastle last month; while Murphy’s other European Group 1 wins this year have been provided by the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Veracious (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the G1 Falmouth S. at Newmarket and on Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) in the G1 Nassau S. at Goodwood.

Trained in Japan by Mitsuru Hashida but based in Newmarket for several months during the season, Deirdre proved a star for Oisin Murphy this year. The jockey, a polyglot who speaks four languages and who seems able to show the full range of his skills wherever in the world he is riding, enjoyed a successful stint in Japan at the start of this year and then proved a perfect fit for Deirdre in Europe.

Now back in Japan, he has further cemented his sky-high reputation among the Japanese racing community by guiding the Yasushi Shono-trained Suave Richard (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) to victory in the G1 Japan Cup. It is impossible not to feel that Oisin Murphy is still in the early stages of what will ultimately turn out to have been a truly great international career.