Oisin Murphy

The rider who streaked home in the £4.7m Sheema Classic in Dubai at the weekend is also odds-on to win something rather more quaint. The title of champion Flat race jockey was once contested with fierce pride by men who thrashed car engines dashing up and down the land to ride a winner at Redcar or Salisbury. Lester Piggott, Willie Carson and Pat Eddery didn't care where it was, provided it landed a blow on their rivals. Sometimes small private planes would lift them over the motorway traffic. But the...

Joe Fanning appears to be set for a short spell on the sidelines after suffering a fall at Wolverhampton on Monday night that led to three-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy being hit with a nine-day ban which will rule him out of the start of the British Flat season. Fanning, who won the race aboard Sennockian (Ire) (No Nay Never), was knocked unconscious after he was unseated shortly after the winning line. The 53-year-old regained consciousness prior to leaving the track, but was taken to hospital for precautionary tests before...

Irish jockey Oisin Murphy talks life as a rider at Gulfstream on this week's TDN Writers' Room.

Oisin Murphy, the British Champion Jockey in 2019, 2020 and 2021, decided to spend part of his winter riding at Gulfstream Park. He didn't come just for the sunshine. Murphy felt that experiencing something different, riding on the dirt and competing against one of the best riding colonies in the world, would further his career. How has he done? Has the experience made him a better rider? Those were questions we asked Murphy when he joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast sponsored by Keeneland. Murphy was the Green Group...

LSU Stables' Ari's Magic (c, 3, Good Magic--Ari the Adventurer, by Pioneerof the Nile) looked to be spinning his wheels for the better part of the opening half-mile of his Friday unveiling at Tampa Bay Downs, but surged to the front under a massive head of steam with a furlong to race and widened from there to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors. Samy Camacho was named to ride, but it was Oisin Murphy at the controls aboard the 9-10 pick, who bounced alertly from gate seven, but was almost immediately...

Oisin Murphy continued his red-hot streak of success around the world with a first trip to Mumbai yielding a victory in the  Indian 1000 Guineas aboard heavy favourite Jendayi (Ind) (Gleneagles {Ire}). The same connections scored a race prior in the R J Kolah Trophy with Chamonix (Ind) (Dunaden {Fr}), landing Murphy and Jendayi's conditioner Pesi Shroff the double. The jockey follows a similar path Richard Hughes enjoyed in riding a Classic winner for the decorated local trainer, who lays claim to the remarkable achievement of winning both the Indian...

Oisin Murphy, who was three times been crowned champion jockey on the Flat in Britain, will make his debut over hurdles at Wincanton on Thursday. The 28-year-old, who is also a keen showjumper, has partnered six Group 1 winners in 2023, led by the  QIPCO 1,000 Guineas winner Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) for Godolphin. His first public spin over jumps comes in the National Hunt Novices' Handicap Hurdle aboard Lets Do This (Ire) for Irish trainer Cian Collins but Murphy has plenty of experience working with jumpers through...

What is already arguably the deepest jockey colony in the country has grown even stronger this year as two of Europe's top riders, Oisin Murphy and Sean Levey, are joining the riding colony at Gulfstream Park for the championship meet. Murphy, 28, is the more familiar of the two. He was the British flat champion jockey three years running in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and has ridden Group I winners in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Japan, the UAE and in the U.S. His three Grade I wins in...

Classic winner Mawj (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) will be prepared for a winter campaign in Dubai, trainer Saeed bin Suroor said. The 3-year-old filly, who won the G1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in May and the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland last month, finished second in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Mile behind Master of the Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). "She ran a huge race and we thought she was going to win, but she was beaten by a good horse, also a Godolphin horse, and I'm...

Maintaining the overseas stranglehold on the G1 Criterium International, Guy Pariente, Thomas Lines and Qatar Racing's Sunway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}--Kensea {Fr}, by Kendargent {Fr}) struck for the David Menuisier stable at Saint-Cloud on Sunday. Putting the pressure on the leader Navy Seal (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) soon after the start, the 4-1 shot bagged the stand's-side fence after the home turn and used that to his advantage as the 4-5 favourite Alcantor (Fr) (New Bay {GB}) loomed on his outside. Engaged in battle with that rival approaching the final furlong, the...

Flight delays kept one of Europe's leading jockeys, Oisin Murphy, from piloting Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify) in last weekend's Woodbine's GI E. P. Taylor S. Thankfully for the connections of 'TDN Rising Star' Mawj (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), he experienced no such issues this weekend--arriving in time to guide the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas S. winner to victory in Keeneland's GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. Making her first start across the pond, the Irish-bred filly entered on a three-race win streak, having crossed the wire first in...

While Newmarket's G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S. was stripped of an important runner in the certain favourite Relief Rally (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), whose dirty scope ruled her out of action on the eve of the race, there can be few complaints that Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio--Too Precious {Ire}, by Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) was not ultimately a worthy winner as she again delivered her potent blend of professionalism and class on Saturday. Surprisingly as big as 9-2 as the joint-second favourite given her exemplary record so far, the Donnacha O'Brien...