This year we have become accustomed to things becoming very different. On Monday it was announced that we shall have to get used to something else: next year there will be no John Oxx training at Currabeg on the edge of The Curragh, with the legendary Irish trainer having revealed his intention to retire at the end of November.
Few readers of this publication will be able to recall such a situation, but even for those whose racing memories are restricted to some or all of the 42 seasons in which the current John Oxx has been at the helm of this most dependable of vessels, this truly is the end of an era.
John Oxx Sr began training in 1943 at the age of 33. Seven years later he bought Currabeg, and 70 years of sustained excellence in that iconic stable began. Oxx remained among the leaders of his profession for decades, most obviously being champion trainer in 1958. In those days Ireland was still very much the poor relation, few trainers regularly handling horses good enough to establish an international profile. Even so, John Oxx Sr nearly succeeded in keeping the first edition of the hugely enriched Irish Sweeps Derby at home when Arctic Storm (Ire) (Nearco {Ity}) failed by only inches against the French-trained Tambourine II at the Curragh in 1962. Arctic Storm’s wins that season included the Irish 2000 Guineas at The Curragh and the Champion S. at Newmarket, and the colt finished third to Match III (Fr) and Her Majesty’s Aurelius (GB) in the King George and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot.
From an early age, John Oxx Jr was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. He prepared for the role by graduating from veterinary college and then assisting his father before taking over the license at Currabeg in advance of the 1979 season. He was aged 28 and his father was a year short of his 70th birthday. The time for transition was right.
John Oxx Sr’s final season was highlighted by the splendid campaign of the admirable filly Sorbus (Ire) (Busted {GB}), who was runner-up in all three legs of Ireland’s fillies’ Triple Crown, the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas, G1 Irish Oaks and G1 Irish St Leger. She actually passed the post first in the Irish Oaks but was controversially demoted in favour of the Oaks winner Fair Salinia (Ire) (Petingo {GB}). The latter then beat Sorbus on merit the following month in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks. Oxx had bought Sorbus as a yearling for 15,500gns for Gerald Jenkins as a dual-purpose (racing and breeding) prospect, and his selection could hardly have been better. After her distinguished racing career she became a stellar broodmare, albeit for Prince Khalid Abdullah rather than Mr. Jenkins, with her descendants including Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert) and Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).
The handover from father to son was seamless. To emphasise the aspect of continuity, Gerald Jenkins owned John Oxx Jr’s first Classic winner: Eurobird (Ire) (Ela-Mana-Mou {GB}), successful in the G1 Irish St Leger in 1987. Two years later, Oxx doubled his Classic tally by taking the same race with another 3-year-old filly when Petite Ile (Ire) (Ile De Bourbon) scored under the veteran Australian rider Ron Quinton, who was the stable jockey at Currabeg at the time.
During the subsequent three decades, Ireland’s racing has prospered to the extent that it now often seems to put Great Britain in the shade, a situation unthinkable for most of turf history. For much of this period, John Oxx stood at the forefront of his country’s training ranks, including when he became champion trainer in 1995, a season which can be regarded as the Year of Ridgewood Pearl, the greatest filly he has ever trained.
Bred by Sean Coughlan and raced by his wife Anne, Ridgewood Pearl (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) became the first of John Oxx’s true superstars. In a splendid season she proved herself an international champion with victories in the G1 Irish ,000 Guineas, G1 Coronation S., G1 Prix du Moulin and GI Breeders’ Cup Mile. She was ridden in the final three of those victories by Johnny Murtagh, who had served his apprenticeship with Oxx before becoming his stable jockey.
Five years later, Oxx and Murtagh combined to reach even greater heights when the Aga Khan’s homebred colt Sinndar (Ire) (Grand Lodge) won the greatest race in each of Europe’s three major racing nations: the G1 Derby at Epsom, the G1 Irish Derby at The Curragh and the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. To make that magical final day in Paris even more special, trainer and jockey also landed the sprint, the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye, with Lady Clague’s Namid (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}). Two years previously, Oxx had provided Lady Clague with Classic success when Winona (Ire) (Alzao) had won the G1 Irish Oaks.
Sinndar was merely one of numerous stars who passed through John Oxx’s hands during his lengthy period as trainer of HH Aga Khan IV’s Irish string. Other major winners whom he prepared for His Highness included 1993 G1 National S. winner Manntari (Ire) (Doyoun {GB}); 1996 GI Beverly D S. and G1 Irish Champion S. heroine Timarida (Ire) (Kalaglow {GB}); 1996 G1 Irish St Leger winner Kastoria (Ire) (Selkirk); 1997 G1 Irish Oaks heroine Ebadiyla (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells); 1998 G1 Moyglare Stud S. heroine Edabiya (Ire) (Rainbow Quest); 1999 G1 Ascot Gold Cup hero Enzeli (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}); 2003 G1 Irish Derby and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. winner Alamshar (Ire) (Key Of Luck); 2004 G1 St James’s Palace S. and G1 Irish Champion S. and 2005 G1 Prince of Wales’s S. and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. winner Azamour (Ire) (Night Shift); 2006 G1 Irish St Leger winner Kastoria (Ire) (Selkirk) and 2009 G1 Irish St Leger winner Alandi (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).
It is hard to believe that John Oxx’s torrent of big-race winners has dried up in recent years, particularly because it seems like only yesterday that he gave us a training masterclass with his faultless handling of the mighty Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), arguably the greatest racehorse to be trained in Ireland since Triple Crown hero Nijinsky half a century ago. Bred and raced by the Tsui family, Sea The Stars rattled off a superb sequence of one Group 1 win a month from May to October through the spring, summer and autumn of 2009. By this time, Johnny Murtagh had moved on and Mick Kinane was bringing his splendid career to an end with a stint as stable jockey at Currabeg. During one of the greatest Classic campaigns ever seen on the turf, Oxx and Kinane brought Sea The Stars through the season unbeaten with a splendid six-timer comprising the G1 2000 Guineas, G1 Derby, G1 Eclipse S., G1 Juddmonte International, G1 Irish Champion S. and G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
It is now 41 years since John Oxx Sr, approaching 70, decided that it was time to pass the baton to his son. Now the son, who turned 70 in July, has too decided that it is time to retire. The name John Oxx has been synonymous with racing excellence for longer than most of us can remember, encapsulating everything that is good about the sport, from professionalism and diligence to honesty and loyalty.
It has not just been the records of the horses at Currabeg which attest to the trainer’s merit: Johnny Murtagh is merely one of many successful apprentices to have flourished under Oxx’s tuition. On Monday afternoon one of his proteges Cathy Gannon–who became Ireland’s first female champion apprentice in 2004 while working at Currabeg–tweeted, “Happy retirement to my mentor, father-like John Oxx. Got my career off to a start. Made me champion apprentice. One of the best trainers in the world. Respect.”
That final word perfectly sums up the career of John Oxx. Few trainers have been more successful than he has; none has earned more respect.
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