Prodigal son Murphy returns home to put cherry on career-defining season
GIVEN what he has achieved in the past year, it’s crazy to think that the highflying Oisin Murphy was still waiting for his maiden Group One success 12 months ago.
As of today the Kerry native – who has been based in the UK since his late teens – has eight top-tier successes to his name, but this is no overnight success story and his is a tale built around hard graft and sacrifice.
His first love was showjumping – at which he represented Ireland – but at 14 his family upped sticks and moved to Buttevant in Cork so that Murphy’s passion for horses would be allowed to flourish under the guidance of his uncle Jim Culloty, who he bares a striking resemblance to.
Having a Gold Cup-winning and Grand National-winning jockey in your bloodline, it’s only natural that Culloty’s exploits on three-time blue-riband winner Best Mate would eventually intoxicate a young Murphy and shape his equine education.
Having cut his teeth on the ponyracing circuit, his natural talent in the saddle was honed on Friday mornings on the schooling ground – before his actual schooling commenced – and every Saturday which was dedicated to riding out under Culloty’s tutelage.
With his future in mind, a 15-year-old Murphy was sent to Tommy Stack’s yard in Tipperary for the summer while a year later it was off to Ballydoyle to work under the genius of Aidan O’Brien as he continued to learn under some of the game’s greatest minds.
He had barely turned 17 when a bold new adventure began as he made Andrew Balding’s historic yard in Berkshire his permanent residence and joined the staff in October 2012.
Leaving your normal surroundings to start a career abroad is no easy feat for a teenager – as many aspiring jockeys and professional footballers will attest to – but Murphy earned the trust of his new boss and repaid him in spades.
Surrounded by quality ammunition, the Killarney-born jockey – who names Kieren Fallon as his riding hero – took to racing like a duck to water and was crowned champion apprentice in 2014.
Big-race successes and being thrust into the spotlight were the norm when Murphy was taking a valuable few pounds off his mounts and a four-timer which included the 2013 Ayr Gold Cup aboard Highland Colori quickly sent his star into orbit.
Just 51 weeks after his first winner, he finished fifth aboard Red Galileo in the 2014 Epsom Derby and it highlighted just how far he had come in such a short time, but losing your claim can be a difficult thing for a jockey.
The demand for your services decreases and some quieter seasons were around the corner. He wasn’t deterred, however, and kept grinding away with stints in Hong Kong and Dubai helping him to become the polished rider which we see today.
This year has been a career-defining season with more than 150 winners parachuting him to the head of the British Flat Jockeys’ Championship, and he could be crowned champion jockey next month.
The smiling assassin, who only turned 23 last week, is the name on everyone’s lips but it hasn’t changed him and he still regularly rides out for smaller handlers – trying to pick up good spares at every available opportunity.
Being Qatar Racing’s retained jockey has thrown up some memorable winners but Roaring Lion is the one horse which people associate Murphy with after victories in the Eclipse at Sandown and the Juddmonte International at York.
The son of Kitten’s Joy – trained by John Gosden – has emerged as one of Europe’s top three-year-old colts and today he offers Murphy an opportunity to do one of the few things which he remarkably hasn’t achieved yet.
He has never ridden a winner in his home land – admittedly from just six rides – and what better way to do so for the first time than in the Group One Qipco Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown aboard the brilliant grey.
His privileged position isn’t lost on him either.
“I saw Jim riding on the TV all the time and I knew he was lucky to be riding good horses and that there were other jockeys that weren’t riding good horses. So I knew that fast horses make fast jockeys and that’s very important,” Murphy said last year.
“I don’t get many opportunities to ride in Ireland so it would be very special, my mum and dad will be there and a lot of my friends and family.”
Leopardstown holds a special place in his heart having frequented the Christmas Festival as a child but even if success is forthcoming, there will be little time for celebration as he jets off to Canada to partner Jessica Harrington’s Chicas Amigas in tomorrow’s Grade One Natalma Stakes at Woodbine (9.26).
That’s the glamour of being a worldclass jockey and it’s poignant that in the same week as Kieran Donaghy brought the curtain down on a glittering Kerry football career, the Kingdom may have a new star.