JUST MAGIC

OISIN MURPHY gained the landmark 150th winner of his breakthrough season in the top flight when guiding Poet’s Vanity to a win at Salisbury yesterday.

And with the exquisite timing he showed in his two Group One successes (Coral Eclipse and Juddmonte International) aboard Roaring Lion this season, he did so on his 23rd birthday.

Murphy’s stellar season began when his Dubai Turf ride on Benbati at Meydan in March secured a first prize of more than £2.5m. The partnership went on to collect another Group One in Germany two days before Murphy pocketed half a million for his principal employers, Qatar Racing, on Lightning Spear in the Sussex Stakes. The Salisbury double on Headland and Poet’s Vanity, which took him to 150, was humble fare in comparison but proved that Murphy deals in quantity as well as quality. David Probert, who like Murphy gained his good grounding at the yard of Andrew Balding, gets his moment in the limelight when partnering Crystal Ocean tomorrow.

With many top pilots drawn to Haydock for the Sprint Cup – in which Murphy is the new jockey for The Tin Man – Probert gets the chance to bring down Arc winner Enable on her comeback race in the September Stakes at Kempton.

Enable suffered her only defeat in her first race last term and will have to be spot on to beat the Hardwicke winner and King George runner-up Crystal Ocean.