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Jockey News

edgt said:
I heard that her injuries were greatly exaggerated, that she was back at work a few days after.
Time will tell, and hopefully truth will out.
No doubt he is the most talented rider around but the "self destruct " gene is all too obvious.
Flat jockeys should not behave like jump jockeys of old.
I remember a famous Northern jockey profiled once ; when asked his favourite tipple he replied "too much of everything ,as a driving ban demonstrates "
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Driving someone in the passenger seat into a tree is not really something I want judged on injuries.

You exaggerate his talents. He's Christian Bale in American Psycho. Only a psychopath could show up at Windsor on the Monday and smile for camera.
 
Jockey Ashley Dashcombe has just ridden a winner on his first start in New Zealand and I have to say he gave it a cracker of a ride as it looked set for second. But his strong finish got it up in the mud to win.

Most of you won’t have heard of Ashley. He’s a Point to Point jockey who has been plying his trade around the West Country and took an age to ride his first winner, not because he wasn’t any good but he wasn’t getting on any winnable horses. I’m so pleased for him too...in the interview, he looked a bit shocked, but I hope it’s the start of a very successful stint for him Down Under as he very much deserves it.
 
As Murphy's licence was given back to him as I understand it with conditions as to alcohol - I am rather than surprised at the leniency with which he has been treated.

As for the injuries to the passenger - the police last week referred to there being an ongoing investigation . He was way over the limit and seems to be rather fortunate to have escaped a community order. The court were told according to the RP that his income was £1250 a week plus £250000 less predictable earnings - that seems remarkably low and that Qatar if only paying him £60000 a year is not a very fat retainer.
 
Ardross said:
As Murphy's licence was given back to him as I understand it with conditions as to alcohol - I am rather than surprised at the leniency with which he has been treated.

As for the injuries to the passenger - the police last week referred to there being an ongoing investigation . He was way over the limit and seems to be rather fortunate to have escaped a community order. The court were told according to the RP that his income was £1250 a week plus £250000 less predictable earnings - that seems remarkably low and that Qatar if only paying him £60000 a year is not a very fat retainer.
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These are net pay figures, perhaps after expenses too, but he must be paying a hell of a lot into his pension! Half way through this season, he has his percentage of £1,86m in winning prize money in the UK alone, so that’s about £160k. His riding fees and percentage of place money, would take him up to £250k. So, with another half a year too, foreign earnings, sponsorship and any other income would surely take him well beyond this level of income. Anyway, he will now have the added cost of a driver for the next 20 months (less reduction if he does the drink driver awareness course).

I agree he had been treated leniently, but let’s hope he has learnt his lesson and can sort out his demons before he ruins his career.
 
You'd like to think the little c**ts endorsement money will dry up. Those figures quoted in court will be absolute bullshit.
 
I see the RP is reporting that Freddie Keighley (son of trainer Martin, I presume) is Paul Nicholls's new conditional.

Anyone know anything about how good he is? I presume PN has seen something in him.
 
Billy Lee has broken his collarbone and will be out for 4 to 6 weeks. He's a jockey so you can assume 4.
 
He’s gaslighting the public.

The media protected Oisín Murphy at every turn — tiptoeing around his repeat offences, softening headlines, parroting his PR statements, and rarely asking hard questions. When he was banned for lying and drink-driving, the Racing Post and Sky Sports Racing framed it as a “redemption story” before the ink was dry on the court record.

Now, he turns around and says he’s the victim of media “bullying” and “jealousy”?

It’s shameless. And worse — it’s calculated. He knows racing media won't bite back. They need access. They need content. And he’s learned he can sell the underdog story no matter how many times he puts people in danger.
 
Looking at the rides he gets and the trainers he has on side, he's clearly got friends in high places, which counts for a lot in this industry.

It is what it is?

I've noticed a few trainers giving Chappers more dirty looks than usual of late and I'm wondering if this perceived 'friendship' with Oisin has anything to do with it...
 
Mr Whatoxo said:
Not sure he’s doing himself any favours with these comments.
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You are a master of understatement.

My take on the bloke.

Spotted him early (he won on a horse called Imperial Glance at Salisbury a day I was there in 2013 and I bet it) and I could see he was an able apprentice.

He lived 15 minutes from me in Kingsclere and I knew people who hung out with him.

He seemed brighter than some jockeys and worked social media well.

But he just kept letting himself down and it seemed he thought he had an endless supply of second chances (tbh, right now you could be forgiven for thinking he got that bit right).

But making himself a media victim?

Please.

Compare racing media with football.

In football, no Manager or player is safe from the media - they're ruthless.

But in racing a billionaire owner can be around for life, ditto a top trainer and a jockey can ride until 50 and beyond.

As a journalist, upset, say, Coolmore, Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore and that's a pretty big hole in your repertoire if they won't speak to you any more.

Murphy doesn't know how lucky he is to be dealing with such a fawning media, many of who are just PRs for the game.

Decent jockey but not a decent bloke and deluded.

Jealousy?

No one was ever jealous of Steve Cauthen, who was ten times the jockey, probably a hundred times wealthier and IMO a thousand times the human being Murphy will ever be.
 
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Just wondering; was it coincidence that Richards Hughes and Hannon were on Luck On Sunday the morning after the offence before the story broke or damage limitation?
Richard Hughes talking about nightclubbing until 3am before riding a treble at Royal Ascot and all that .
JP paid Paul Carberry 30k to stay 3 months off the drink years ago, according to his book .
Was JP wrong to offer Paul the money or Paul wrong to take JP up the offer ?
Does it matter ?
Would Oisin be better off to quit race riding for show jumping, his first love ?
Would racing be better off with him or without him ?

From the headline Oisin is speaking in the wrong tense; it is a nightmare, an ongoing one that won't end anytime soon.
Face it, live with it and learn from it ; easy for me to say at this remove, of course.
 
I just think it's 2025 Edgt.

We all draw the line at various different points, jockey having an alcohol problem shock horror just isn't enough for people to shut the bloke out.

It's an illness after all. I didn't see many articles in the Racing Post castigating Alistair Down and so forth. The crash was a new low though and he should take this opportunity to correct himself and never look back.
 
He was crashing cars on the Killarney road after drink when he was a young lad. Redemption left the station a long time ago.
 
The Fortune Teller said:
I just think it's 2025 Edgt.

We all draw the line at various different points, jockey having an alcohol problem shock horror just isn't enough for people to shut the bloke out.

It's an illness after all. I didn't see many articles in the Racing Post castigating Alistair Down and so forth. The crash was a new low though and he should take this opportunity to correct himself and never look back.
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That's not what he's doing. The little bastard is playing the victim .
 
Ian_Davies said:
He seemed brighter than some jockeys
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I thought I read somewhere that he left school with no qualifications; that the persona he presents as someone who reads poetry is pretty much taken straight from the story of Seabiscuit's jockey, Red Pollard.

He's obviously a very good jockey and highly prized by trainers who think they have the winner of a certain race.

On the other hand...

I have huge sympathy with people who end up on the wrong side of drink-driving charges.

When I read/see/hear in the media that someone is two or three times over the legal limit, I can't help but shrug my shoulders. The legal limit is something like a half-pint of beer. I know people who have driven with several times that limit in their system and 50 years ago the legal limit was something like six times what it is now. It's a bit like calling pushing someone "assault" (when my own granda died a short time after being beaten up in the street and the assailant got off with a 30-bob fine.)

The law indeed is an ass at times.

I also know of someone who ended up doing time after being found guilty of driving over the limit and got no sympathy from the law despite the fact that they were the sole carer of their disabled single parent so I can see both sides of the argument and that depending on how good a lawyer is can dictate how the law treats lawbreakers.

But I do get the impression that Murphy sees himself as entitled to disregard the law and that in the longer term this will come home to roost.
 
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