After 168 victories this season, and one day to go, Oisin Murphy has been announced as the champion jockey for 2019.
Accumulating over £3.5m in prize money in total, the Irishman could not be caught ahead of British Champions Day tomorrow at Ascot.
As an ambassador for QIPCO British Championship Series races, Murphy rode two Group 1 winners this summer, riding Veracious to victory at Newmarket in the Falmouth Stakes. The second win was for unlikely Japanese runner Deirdre in the Nassau Stakes at Royal Ascot.
He has four opportunities for a third Group 1 win including the Japanese mare in the 4:00 race. This will kick the horse onwards towards the Breeder’s Cup in Santa Anita in two weeks time.
In a year where he’s seen ups and downs, the 24-year-old is completely focused on continuing this form into next season and over the winter months. The top of this list was when he was found to be over the accepted alcohol limit for jockeys, but he was still under the legal drink-drive limit. Oisin was banned for a day of racing at Salisbury, where he could have come unstuck.
Murphy’s rides for tomorrow are all at the Berkshire Racecourse, they are:
1:35pm – The Tin Man (James Fanshawe)
2:10pm – Max Dynamite (W P Mullins)
2:45pm – Sparkle Roll (John Gosden)
3:20pm – Benbatl (Saeed bin Suroor)
4:00pm – Deirdre (Mitsuru Hashida)
4:40pm – Kick On (John Gosden)
Photo credit: monkeywing via Creative Commons Licence
