Oisin Murphy Named Britain’s Champion Jockey For Third Straight Year

Oisin Murphy was crowned Britain's Champion Jockey for the third year in a row at Ascot this weekend. The 26-year-old has racked up 153 wins since the championship started at Newmarket on May 1, two more than his closest pursuer William Buick who threw down a strong challenge in the closing weeks of the season.

Murphy, who is retained by Qatar Racing, is the third jockey this century to claim three consecutive titles, following fellow Irishmen Richard Hughes (2012-2014) and Kieren Fallon (2001-2003).

Murphy was able to bring home the championship despite serving a three-month suspension this year after testing positive for cocaine in July of 2020. He was also taken off his mounts earlier this month when he failed a breath test.

Highlights for Murphy this season have centered around star filly Alcohol Free. The duo captured the G1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, where Murphy was Top Jockey for the first time, before overcoming all-aged opposition in the G1 Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

Murphy said: “I am over the moon and thrilled to get it across the line. Thank you to my family and everyone – I've got a massive support group.

“The last week I've had a lot of people on my side. Frankie Dettori has been there every day making sure my spirits are up and I was riding off instinct as normal which is key.

“You need to make every ride count and I was running out of opportunities. I held it together thankfully in the end.

“I think everyone knows that I am human and quite honest. But I need to do better and I don't want any issues surrounding my career. Let's just focus on riding winners and hopefully winning another jockeys' championship.

“I'm 26-years-old so I think I will keep trying for a few more years. Horses are my life and I'm never happier than when I'm on the back of a horse. I've bought my showjumpers and they keep me busy too.

“Sheikh Fahad and Qatar Racing have a few horses to go to America for the Breeders' Cup. There are lots of international races in Hong Kong and Japan coming up so I will be busy.

“William [Buick] was getting a lot more support than I was in the last couple of weeks and the likes of Ed Walker, Hughie Morrison, Andrew Balding and Saeed bin Suroor have been amazing, so thanks to them.”

The post Oisin Murphy Named Britain’s Champion Jockey For Third Straight Year appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Murphy Earns Third Jockeys’ Title

The British jockeys' championship came right down to the wire in a tight race between Oisin Murphy and William Buick in recent weeks, but despite Buick's victory aboard Creative Force on Champions Day, Murphy prevailed by two victories to earn his third consecutive champion jockey title.

“I'm over the moon and thrilled to get it across the line,” Murphy said. “Thank you to my family and everyone–I've got a massive support group. The last week I've had a lot of people on my side. Frankie Dettori has been there every day making sure my spirits are up and I was riding off instinct as normal which is key. You need to make every ride count and I was running out of opportunities. I held it together thankfully in the end.”

It has not been a straightforward few weeks for Murphy, who suffered a face injury in a nasty paddock incident at Salisbury and later failed a breathalyser test at Newmarket after reports of an altercation in a local pub the night prior. Murphy addressed the latter, saying, “I think everyone knows that I am human and quite honest. But I need to do better and I don't want any issues surrounding my career. Let's just focus on riding winners and hopefully winning another jockeys' championship. I'm 26-years-old so I think I will keep trying for a few more years. Horses are my life and I'm never happier than when I'm on the back of a horse. I've bought my showjumpers and they keep me busy too. Sheikh Fahad and Qatar Racing have a few horses to go to America for the Breeders' Cup. There are lots of international races in Hong Kong and Japan coming up so I will be busy.

“William was getting a lot more support than I was in the last couple of weeks and the likes of Ed Walker, Hughie Morrison, Andrew Balding and Saeed bin Suroor have been amazing, so thanks to them.”

Murphy is retained rider to Qatar Racing, and Sheikh Fahad spoke out in support of the jockey on Racing TV, saying, “Oisin has really felt it this time, there's no question about it. He felt it at the end of last season as well when he was over at the Breeders' Cup and William was eating into his lead in dramatic fashion. It's been a really high pressure and tense end to the season. Thank God it ends today and not at Doncaster in a few weeks' time as that would drag it out even more.

“Oisin is a young man. We've known him since he was 17 and he's still growing and developing as a man. Clearly there are things that have happened in recent times that he has regrets about and will work hard to put right. I have no doubt that when the pressure of Champions Day is out of the way and he can breathe and regroup, that there will be changes made to his lifestyle and he's going to look very hard at that.

“Nobody can have any idea what it's like being in this cauldron unless they've actually been there themselves. I spoke to Kevin Darley the other day and he said when he sat down at the end of his championship-winning season, he literally lost two days of his life he was so exhausted. He couldn't even remember what happened in that time. William is going to be exhausted as well. Oisin is exhausted and puts himself under huge pressure.

“We all make mistakes. It's been difficult and obviously it's disappointing for everybody that the stories in the press have detracted from what is an absolutely unbelievable achievement–to win three championships on the bounce from such an early start. We're incredibly proud of him. He's very much part of our family and whatever help Oisin needs he'll get.”

Marco Ghiani was named champion apprentice jockey after accumulating 51 winners this year.

“It's really nice to be crowned champion apprentice,” Ghiani said. “It's a dream come true and I'm really thankful to all the people that have helped me along this journey. I'll be smiling forever now.”

The 22-year-old Ghiani, whose highlight this season came when steering the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Real World to a victory in Royal Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup, said he doesn't come from a racing family but decided he wanted to be a jockey at age 15.

“My family have a restaurant,” he explained. “None of them have been with horses, apart from my grandfather's grandfather. We found out last week that he used to ride horses.

“I started working in the restaurant when I was about 10 years old. When I was 15 I didn't want to go to school any more, so my father put me in the restaurant to teach me how to make pizzas. I thought the pizzas were too hot, so my father wanted me to do something else and made me leave.”

Ghiani, who enrolled in the British Racing School and joined Luca Cumani's yard at age 16, said he “just wants to ride as many winners as I can.”

The post Murphy Earns Third Jockeys’ Title appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Dubawi’s Creative Force In Control In The Sprint

Godolphin's G3 Jersey S. hero Creative Force (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) had failed to strike in three outings since registering that June 19 Royal Ascot triumph and went postward for Saturday's G1 British Champions Sprint back at the Berskhire venue coming off a three-length sixth in last month's G1 Sprint Cup at Haydock. Notable as Charlie Appleby's first Champions Day contender, he kept jockey William Buick's jockeys' championship hopes alive with a decisive victory in the six-furlong dash. The €400,000 Goffs Orby yearling had sealed a run of four straight wins in the Jersey and has since run fifth in Newmarket's July 10 G1 July Cup and second contesting Goodwood's July 27 G2 Lennox S. in his penultimate start. The eventual winner was positioned sixth within range of the leaders through the early fractions until making a manoeuvre to slipstream the pacesetting Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) at the quarter-mile marker. Easing out of that rival's wake to seize control approaching the final furlong, the 11-2 chance was not for catching thereafter and was ridden out in the closing stages to hit the line with a one-length advantage as low-drawn runners dominated. Shadwell's Minzaal (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) closed late to finish a length behind Glen Shiel in third while King Power Racing's 3-1 favourite Art Power (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) was compromised by his stands' side drawn and ran on strongly to fail by head for third.

“I'm delighted, it's a great team result, it's been a great season and this lad deserves it,” beamed trainer Charlie Appleby after marching to the cusp of a first trainers' championship. “James Doyle felt he was a sprinter earlier this season and I was confident with this horse after Haydock, where the ground was too fast for him. I'm delighted for the horse because he has been on the go all year. He was out at the Craven Meeting and rose through the ranks and came here to win the Jersey at the Royal meeting. We've been lucky with the likes of Blue Point at this level and this guy can travel for fun. William [Buick] was confident riding him and he has won over seven furlongs here, so he wasn't going to stop. This was my first runner at Champions Day, it's a fantastic crowd and the sun is shining down. It's soft ground and that is what we expect at this time of year, but it is not dead ground as they are going through it. Creative Force is a typical Dubawi who should get better with age and the sprint division is there for someone to take the mantle next year. We've been looking for a new star sprinter since Blue Point was retired and this horse can be a fun horse for the next year or two. There's a hole there to be filled and I think he is a young enough horse to do that.”

“Creative Force won the Jersey here and goes through that ground, which is a big help, and he really did deserve it,” said rider William Buick, who would ultimately finish two winners shy of sharing the jockeys' championship with Oisin Murphy. “The ground was very fast and he stumbled out of the stalls at Haydock. It's game over if you stumble out of the stalls in a six-furlong Group 1, but he did get himself back into it and he ran well. Today's race worked out perfectly as we had a nice draw and I liked the look of it. It worked out how I wanted it to and he was in good form going into it. He certainly deserved it, but we thought it was a good chance for him to show his best today. There were a lot of runners and they all turned up, but he travelled into it very smoothly and it was a case of just waiting with him a little bit.”

Reflecting on Buick's failed title challenge, Appleby said, “I think it's something that William himself will say he has enjoyed and it's all very well riding these good horses at the big meetings, but he's been mucking it out round the smaller tracks. Success breeds success and you can't beat having winners so William riding more has given him more opportunity to ride more winners and I think we've seen a better rider. He has always been a rider at the top of his game, but now he's riding so many of these horses and so many different types of horses. I noticed at the back end of last year his style of riding was changing and we've seen that hunger this year. Win, lose or draw, William isn't going to walk away deflated from what he's achieved this year. He has that character that he will go forward again and do the same next year. For me, he's a huge part of the team and the more winners he rides, the happier I am. It's a sporting industry and the last thing you want is someone who is sat on the bench for the week and then coming out on the weekend. It's alright when you do it at a certain level of your career, but William is too young to be doing that just yet.”

Archie Watson was far from downhearted with the display of runner-up Glen Shiel, who also ran second in this year's G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at the Royal meeting. “He does come alive here, that's his second Group 1 second place here this year and I am delighted,” the trainer said. “The first-time blinkers worked, they really lit him up and he jumped and travelled very well. He quickened away and just found one very good horse of Charlie's to beat him. He's just a dream for the owners to have and a dream for us to have.”

Hollie Doyle, who took the meeting opener aboard Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) in the G1 British Champions Long Distance Cup, made a bold attempt to lead out from the front on 22-1 chance Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), but was denied by a superior force on the day. “It was another brilliant run from Glen Shiel and he is such a credit to connections,” she commented.

Creative Force becomes the 46th Group 1 winner for his sire (by Dubai Millennium {GB}) and is one of three stakes winners produced by Listed Fairy Bridge S. victrix and G2 Blandford S. placegetter Choose Me (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}), herself kin to Listed Waterford Testimonial S. victor Shanghai Glory (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}). The March-foaled chestnut is a half-brother G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. heroine Persuasive (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), stakes-winning G3 Prix de Lieurey runner-up Tisbutadream (Ire) (Dream Ahead), the unraced 2-year-old colt Mr Zero (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and a yearling filly by Dark Angel (Ire). Creative Force's third dam Ajuga (The Minstrel) finished third in the Listed Sandy Lane S. and has three black-type winners to her credit headed by G2 EuropaChampionat scorer Bad Bertrich Again (Ire) (Dowsing) and Listed Cheshire Oaks victrix Alumni (GB) (Selkirk), herself the dam of Czechoslovakian champion and stakes-winning G2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein and G2 Oettingen-Rennen runner-up Dux Scholar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). His fourth dam is the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and G1 Champion S. heroine Cairn Rouge (Ire) (Pitcairn {Ire}), whose descendants are headed by dual G1 Paddock S. heroine Queen Supreme (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) and elite-level winners Ventura (Chester House) and Harlem (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}).

Saturday, Ascot, Britain
QIPCO BRITISH CHAMPIONS SPRINT S.-G1, £531,250, Ascot, 10-16, 3yo/up, 6fT, 1:13.79, g/s.
1–CREATIVE FORCE (IRE), 127, g, 3, by Dubawi (Ire)
1st Dam: Choose Me (Ire) (SW & MGSP-Ire, $388,395), by Choisir (Aus)
2nd Dam: Hecuba (GB), by Hector Protector
3rd Dam: Ajuga, by The Minstrel
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (€400,000 Ylg '19 GOFOR). O-Godolphin; B-Owenstown Bloodstock Ltd (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. £301,272. Lifetime Record: 10-6-1-0, $614,244. *1/2 to Persuasive (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Hwt. Older Mare-Eur at 7-9.5f, G1SW-Eng & MG1SP-Ire, $1,161,785; and Tisbutadream (Ire) (Dream Ahead), SW & MGSP-Eng, GSP-Fr, $133,016. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Glen Shiel (GB), 128, g, 7, Pivotal (GB)–Gonfilia (Ger), by Big Shuffle. (£45,000 5yo '19 GOFSPR). O-Hambleton Racing XXXVI & Partner; B-Darley (GB); T-Archie Watson. £114,219.
3–Minzaal (Ire), 127, c, 3, Mehmas (Ire)–Pardoven (Ire), by Clodovil (Ire). (85,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA; 140,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-Shadwell Estate Company Ltd; B-Ringfort Stud (IRE); T-Owen Burrows. £57,163.
Margins: 1, 1, HD. Odds: 5.50, 22.00, 16.00.
Also Ran: Art Power (Ire), Vadream (GB), Highfield Princess (Fr), Ventura Diamond (Ire), Happy Power (Ire), Kinross (GB), Ainsdale (GB), Happy Romance (Ire), Brando (GB), Thunder Moon (Ire), Dragon Symbol (GB), Gustavus Weston (Ire), Keep Busy (Ire), Last Empire (GB), Rohaan (Ire), Nando Parrado (GB), Azano (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

The post Dubawi’s Creative Force In Control In The Sprint appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Oasis Dream’s Native Trail Completes The Bluewash In The Dewhurst

By the time the G1 Darley Dewhurst S. loomed on Saturday, there was a keen sense of inevitability to the outcome and Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) kept to the script to complete Godolphin and Charlie Appleby's rout of Newmarket's Future Champions Day card. Already the keeper of the generation's bragging rights having collected the G2 Superlative S. at the July Festival here and the G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. at The Curragh Sept. 12, the bay had one more mission to complete and did so with his now-customary professionalism to take an unbeaten record into the off-season. Settled in behind the TDN Rising Stars Straight Answer (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) and Dubawi Legend (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) throughout the early stages by William Buick, the 5-6 favourite was in a pocket with the field having congregated against the stand's rail. Needing his usual niggling to prepare for engagement three out, he responded to hunt down the keen-going Dubawi Legend heading downhill and overhauled that rival 150 yards from the post. Dubawi Legend stuck at it to ultimately be beaten just two lengths, as Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) stayed on to be half a length away in third. “It was a messy pace and messy race and we ended up on the stand's rail, but wherever I asked him to go he went and he hit the rising ground really well,” Buick said. “It's nice to back up his National Stakes win in the Dewhurst, which is the most important 2-year-old race and I think he'll be just as effective or more so over a mile next year. He wouldn't look out of place in a 3-year-old race now–you want to see how he comes out of these races, he's a real man you know.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Native Trail's debut performance at Sandown June 11 looks even stronger now that the four-length runner-up Royal Patronage (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) has gone on to beat some of this card's leading protagonists in both the G2 Royal Lodge S. and G3 Acomb S. Upstaging Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir) in a tight finish to the Superlative, Godolphin's top dog gunned down Ballydoyle's unbeaten TDN Rising Star Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in the National to take on extra gravitas and may not have needed to fully repeat that form to double his group 1 tally here. “He's a gorgeous horse with tonnes of ability,” Buick added. “You wouldn't have expected them to come stand's side, but I did anticipate a tactical race and knew he would pick up once he got daylight. He's deservedly champion 2-year-old and could be absolutely anything. He minds himself at home and brings it on in the afternoon.”

What will emerge from elsewhere to challenge his pre-eminence in the 2000 Guineas next spring is unknown at this stage, but it could be that despite his impeccable credentials Native Trail is not even the best 2-year-old in his own stable. Debates will rage throughout the winter as to whether the preceding G3 Autumn S. winner Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the better of the pair, but for now Native Trail has the big title belts all to himself. “Had he not won the National Stakes in similar fashion, I would probably have been a bit twitchy passing halfway but knowing how this horse operates I was comfortable enough,” Appleby said. “He wasn't doing a stroke and was just going through the motions. One thing is for sure, he was not going to stop galloping once he got going and the way he accelerated there when really given the office was quite remarkable.”

“I can't see him getting any further than a mile personally, but he's an exciting Guineas horse along with Coroebus,” the Moulton Paddocks handler added. “His work at home prior to the National Stakes, you wouldn't be getting too excited but he's that sort of horse, he warms into a race and does it all the right way round and that's what we saw again today. There's a lot more to come, you'd like to say, but he is unbeaten with two group 1s. I'm not going to get too carried away. He's a big boy, 540 kilos, and came in at that weight from the breeze-ups. Full credit to the team who purchased him and Norman Williamson who consigned him. Since then, Norman has taken a keen interest.”

“Norman said after the National Stakes he still didn't know what he was doing and he was correct, because his work at home wasn't too exciting but he warms into a race and does it the right way round. I've never put him anywhere near Coroebus at home–they are different types. Coroebus travels very well and has a smart turn of foot, whereas this horse does things in a different manner.”

As Appleby stated, Native Trail was a 210,000gns Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up graduate and is the first runner for the unraced Juddmonte cast-off Needleleaf (GB) (Observatory) who was bought by the MAB Agency for just 60,000gns at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. She is a full-sister to the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup heroine African Rose (GB) and the G3 Prix d'Aumale winner and G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Helleborine (GB), with the former producing the G3 Princess Margaret S. winner Fair Eva (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Helleborine responsible for the G2 Coventry S.-winning sire Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}).

The second dam New Orchid (Quest For Fame {GB}), who was third in the G3 Lancashire Oaks, is a daughter of Musicanti (Nijinsky II) who also produced the 1999 Dewhurst hero and sire Distant Music from a mating with Observatory's sire Distant View. Musicanti is kin to the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, GI Washington D.C. International and GI Suburban H.-winning champion Vanlandingham (Cox's Ridge) and to the dams of the GII Keeneland Turf Mile and G2 Prix Eugene Adam-winning sire Kirkwall (GB) (Selkirk) and to the GI American Oaks heroine Funny Moon (Malibu Moon). From the family of the GI Belmont S. hero and sire Temperence Hill, Needleleaf's yearling filly by Calyx's sire Kingman was bought by Godolphin for €950,000 at the Arqana Deauville August Sale. She also has a filly foal by Siyouni (Fr).

Saturday, Newmarket, Britain
DARLEY DEWHURST S.-G1, £526,375, Newmarket, 10-9, 2yo, 7fT, 1:24.82, gd.
1–NATIVE TRAIL (GB), 127, c, 2, by Oasis Dream (GB)
     1st Dam: Needleleaf (GB), by Observatory
     2nd Dam: New Orchid, by Quest for Fame (GB)
     3rd Dam: Musicanti, by Nijinsky II
(€50,000 Wlg '19 ARQDE; 67,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT; 210,000gns 2yo '21 TATBRE). O-Godolphin; B-Le Haras D'Haspel (GB); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. £298,507. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Ire, 4-4-0-0, $692,565. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Dubawi Legend (Ire), 127, c, 2, Dubawi (Ire)–Lovely Pass (Ire), by Raven's Pass. O-Dr Ali Ridha; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited (IRE); T-Hugo Palmer. £113,171.
3–Bayside Boy (Ire), 127, c, 2, New Bay (GB)–Alava (Ire), by Anabaa. (200,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-Teme Valley & Ballylinch Stud; B-Ballylinch Stud (IRE); T-Roger Varian. £56,638.
Margins: 2, HF, 1 3/4. Odds: 0.83, 12.00, 9.00.
Also Ran: Berkshire Shadow (GB), Dhabab (Ire), Glounthaune (Ire), Go Bears Go (Ire), Straight Answer (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

 

The post Oasis Dream’s Native Trail Completes The Bluewash In The Dewhurst appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights