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Champion Jockey Oisin Murphy Reaches 1,000-Winner Mark

Qatar Racing colourbearer Perfect Sign (Ire) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) gave pilot Oisin Murphy his 1,000 winner. The reigning champion jockey and retained rider for Qatar Racing teamed up with the juvenile filly for trainer Michael Dods at Southwell. The 25-year-old Irishman, who was the champion apprentice in the UK in 2014, was appointed number one Jockey for Qatar Racing in 2016. On board Qatar Racing’s Kameko (Kitten’s Joy) he gained his first Classic success in the 2020 G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas.

Murphy told Sky Sports Racing: “I ride for great people, and it’s really nice to get my 1,000th in these colours. The filly is in the sale on Thursday, so it’s a good moment. When you start out as an apprentice you hope to just get one winner–hopefully I can ride 1,000 more in the future. I ride good horses all over the world–I’m very privileged and I have to remember that.”

The Kitten’s Joy colt, who is bound for a stallion career at Tweenhills Farm & Stud after a start in the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 7, galloped at Kempton on Tuesday.

“We’ve been so lucky to find good horses over the years,” he added. “Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy) was a champion, as is Kameko, but to replace them isn’t easy–so we keep trying. To win my first Classic on Kameko was great–growing up as a child you watch all the Classics, and that was very special.

“Kameko heads to the Breeders’ Cup, and we took him to Kempton this morning and we went round left-handed so he could get used to that.”

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O’Brien Runs Over Breeders’ Cup Team

Aidan O’Brien has 12 Breeders’ Cup trophies on his mantle, and he sends a typically strong team to Keeneland next week with numerous chances to bolster that number.

Among the heavyweights are 2020 Group 1 winners Mogul (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who will attempt to give their trainer a sixth win in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf.

The 3-year-old Mogul earned his first top-level victory in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris on Sept. 13 with the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe second In Swoop (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) in his wake, but was scratched from the Arc when O’Brien’s stable was caught up in a feed contamination issue.

“We were training him for the Arc and he didn’t get to go,” O’Brien said. “The Arc was very tough ground and maybe to miss that ground wouldn’t have been any harm. He is a horse with a lot of speed. He likes racing. He’s a big, gross horse. He is made like a miler. He takes plenty of racing to keep him right. He’s an unbelievable specimen to look at.

“The track is a little bit tighter than he would be used to, but he is a horse that really quickens. I think that’s what you really need to win those races in America.”

Magical has two years on and plenty more airmiles than her stablemate, and she has had a particularly busy summer and fall, winning the G1 Pretty Polly S., G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup and G1 Irish Champion S. She was third over soft ground in the G1 Champion S. on Oct. 17.

“She’s an unbelievable filly,” O’Brien said. “She has run at the top level from when she was a 2-year-old. She’s danced every dance and travelled everywhere. She is very comfortable from a mile to a mile and a half, which is very unusual. She is very brave, stays well, and has a good mind. She is an incredible mare. She ran very well the last day in very bad ground at Ascot, which wouldn’t have suited her.”

O’Brien looks to this year’s G1 Queen Anne S. winner Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the talented Group 1 bridesmaid Lope Y Fernandez (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) to give him a first win in the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile, with Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}) also possible. Circus Maximus was fourth in the race at Santa Anita last year.

“He ran well but he had a bad draw,” O’Brien recalled. “It was a little bit rough and tumble there. We always thought this year would suit him better. Santa Anita was hard fast ground. He doesn’t mind that, but a little bit of kindness in the ground won’t be any harm for him.”

O’Brien said he thinks Lope Y Fernandez’s speed will bode well for him at Keeneland.

“We think the one mile and left hand sharp track will suit him,” he said. “He quickens very well, and I think out there, for the one-mile races, you need loads of speed.”

“Lope Y Fernandez has been running over shorter distances and probably quickens better, but whether he is hard enough, or tough enough, to beat the likes of Circus Maximus, I’m not sure. If Circus Maximus gets a nice draw, it’ll be very interesting.”

G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Peaceful (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will attempt to bounce back from a last of 12 finish in the G1 Sun Chariot S. over Newmarket’s heavy ground on Oct. 3 in the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

“We ran at Newmarket in the Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S. on bad ground when we probably shouldn’t have,” said O’Brien. “I don’t think the race at Newmarket left its mark, she seems to be in good form since and we always had our eye on the Breeders’ Cup for her. We’d like nice ground and if she gets a good draw, she’ll go forward and should be very uncomplicated.”

O’Brien’s Breeders’ Cup juvenile squad is headed by Listed Chesham S. and G2 Vintage S. winner Battleground (War Front) for the GI Juvenile Turf, and will also include Group 3 winner Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) for the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf, with Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) also possible and Lipizzaner (Uncle Mo) a potential candidate for the GII Juvenile Turf Sprint.

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Ladbrokes, Coral Quit Betting Ring

Ladbrokes and Coral will no longer have a presence in racecourse betting rings after their parent company GVC announced it will cease operation of all of its 106 racecourse betting pitches, which have been sold to John Hooper.

“This decision has not been taken lightly, and we are very sad to be calling time on Ladbrokes and Coral’s longstanding presence in the racecourse betting ring,” said GVC’s Trading Director Tom Ritzema. “GVC remains totally committed to horse racing, with a significant race sponsorship portfolio under the Ladbrokes and Coral brands, and we are the biggest single provider of betting revenues to the sport.”

“A number of factors combined to lead us to conclude that a presence in the racecourse betting ring is no longer a strategic imperative for our two UK brands,” Ritzema continued. “The volume of business taken through the racecourse pitches is minuscule, compared to the volumes generated in our off-course retail and digital businesses, and we no longer use the operation to hedge into the racecourse betting ring. As the racecourse operation is loss-making and no longer has a strategic purpose, we have regrettably reached the decision to sell our pitches and leave the ring. The current situation with Covid-19, and racing behind closed doors, expedited the decision but was not one of the factors behind it.

“Standing in the betting ring will always be a huge part of both Ladbrokes and Coral heritage and history, and we are immensely proud of that. However, the betting landscape has changed immeasurably in recent years, and we need to change with it. We would like to wish John Hooper the best of fortune with our pitches, going forward.”

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No Breeders’ Cup For Wonderful Tonight

Wonderful Tonight (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), winner of the G1 Prix de Royallieu and the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. this month, will bypass this year’s Breeders’ Cup with a 4-year-old campaign in mind.

“She’s not going to the Breeders’ Cup–I don’t think it would be fair,” said trainer David Menuisier. “If the filly was four and it was her last ever race, maybe we would have rolled the dice, but in this instance I think it would be greed. I would be scared to ask too much of her and it’s a long way, especially to Kentucky because you have to catch a flight from Amsterdam to New York and then another flight from there. There’s no direct flight, so it would be quite daunting for a youngster.”

Menuisier had previously mentioned next year’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as a goal, but he said options are open as to how Wonderful Tonight will arrive there.

“It’s early days, let’s get through the winter and think about it next year,” he said. “The programme will be written for her really, because being a Group 1 winner you don’t have many choices. Early in the season you have the [G1] Prix Ganay at Longchamp and the [G2] Dahlia S. at Newmarket, and we’ll see where we go from there. We hope she’ll be running in the Arc next October, and before that you have either the [G1] Prix Vermeille or the [G1] Irish Champion S., or there’s the big race in Germany, the [G1] Grosser Preis von Baden.

“How we get to the end of next year, I don’t know yet, it will all depend on the weather. If Royal Ascot is wet we could think about that, or there’s the [G1] King George at Ascot at the end of July. For the moment, we’ll reflect on how good the year has been this year, enjoy it and reload for next year.”

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