‘I used to live with three jockeys in a small village called Dualla, near Cashel. They would watch the wrestling on television and then practise the moves on me. One day they stripped me off and tied me naked to a street lamppost and left me there for the night and the neighbours called the Gardai.’ Oisin Murphy pauses. ‘It was fun and I thought it was normal.’
Murphy is one of the most gifted jockeys in the world. But his life has been a rollercoaster – a ride which would have crushed most people.
He has five Jockeys’ Championships, 43 Group One victories and two Classic wins to his name. But he’s also chalked up two significant suspensions when he was careering out of control: a three-month ban for a positive cocaine test in France followed by a 14-month absence for conduct prejudicial to racing (he broke Covid rules) and two alcohol test breaches. The fact that he named the two dogs he gave his sister Merlot and Belvedere speaks for itself.
Murphy is forthright on any number of subjects and adamant that the whip is essential
While he is second in the Jockeys’ Championship this season and he has ridden three Group One winners, the magic hasn’t been flowing at the level he demands of himself. ‘I haven’t been walking on water,’ he says. ‘It hasn’t been happening. Maybe I’m better when I’m getting torn to shreds and everyone hates me.’
