Timmy Murphy

H

harry

At the Start
Joined
Apr 16, 2005
Messages
5,694
Now I know he is an excellent jockey who is put up on everyone's horses from JP to DJ but I have been observing him closely for the last couple of years and have wondered the following:

Does EVERY Dave Pipe trained DJ horse have to ridden from Plum last in every race and then sweep through the field to win like Phar Lap?
If you look at Pipe horses ridden by Scu they are up in the van and front run often and then look at the success Pipe has had recently. Osana, Tamarinbleu, Gaspara and Lough Derg ie. All ridden differently to Murphy.
Surely a horse who is dropped out 30 lengths in every race has to make those 30 lenghts up and then win?
Ruby is a hold up jock but Murphy always drops to Last on the Pipe horses.
When he rides for other yards he is quite often up closer and has more success.
I can imagine Pipe hates the sight of him
 
An interesting post Harry and I suppose the answer is that he is a bit of both.

The way he can get a horse switched-off, travelling well, jumping well, creeping slowly into the race and then produce it at just the right time is spectacularly brilliant when it works.

I have no doubt that he can improve some horses by literally stones and that he wins on horses that very few other jockeys could. Harris Bay would be a good example but my personal favourite is a ride he gave a horse called El Bandindos at Uttoxeter in September when his judgement of the pace was pure genius (and landed me a nice few quid). Many will also remember his sublime ride on Tikram in the 2004 Mildmay Of Flete.

The downside is that sometimes all that fannying about is simply unnessary. It's all very well settling a horse in last place if it has to be ridden like that - but if it doesn't then he is surely just making life difficult for himself (unless he genuinely feels that they are going too quick). Perhaps Harry is right in that he want to show-boat. Why do commentators so often describe front-runners as "doing it the hard way" anyway? Surely giving all the other runners a 20l head-start is harder?

However, when it comes to show-boating, helmet throwing apprentice Paddy "AWOL" Merrigan is even worse. He insisted on using extreme hold-up tactics on Souffleur at Cheltenham off a slow pace and set the horse an impossible task. Tom O'Brien subsequently proved what a complete tosser Merrigan clearly is by giving Souffleur a much more orthodox ride when he won The Challow.
 
Agree Relkeel, I just feel that he gives all the Pipe horses the same ride where they are giving the field lengths and lengths and all the other Pipe horses (coz they would rather a blind man riding them than Murphy) are ridden differently with more success.
He doesn't do these exaggerated tactics for outside rides though where he presumably is under instructions
 
Right thats it, yet another reference, ( there have been many in the press too) to the appalling ride that Merrigan gave Souffleur at Cheltenham. This ride keeps being singled out, an easy-target jockey under fire from all sides for being an all round prick, on a horse that was favourite that 'should' have won. He overdid the waiting in a slowly run race but was at least trying tactics similar to those previously employed on a horse on which he had won its two most recent starts.

In the same race McCoy rode a much worse race, on a horse he was riding for the first time, the underestimated GONE TO LUNCH, who was held up, detached from the pack in company with Souffleur, who is in essence a pacier horse who had won at shorter trips over hurdles aswell as on the flat.

Gone To Lunch, usually ridden by Liam Heard had been winning over three miles and three and a quarter miles before Heard was claimed to be elsewhere by Nicholls. Gone To Lunch was needlessly held up way off the pace by McCoy and was predictably struggling to bridge the gap when the leaders went for home. He then cut them all down bar the winner and would undoubtedly have won if he had been ridden handier. Thats the horse that should have won.

McCoy, rode an even worse race than Merrigan for no obvious reason, but Merrigans Souffleur ride is the one that keeps being mentioned.

Gone To Lunch will win what has been The Brit Insurance at the Festival.
 
When you consider the complete b*llocks Paddy Brennan made of riding Razor Royale in that race was possibly only the third worst ride in it, it is quite alarming.
 
At least two other people think Razor Royale should have won that race, they didnt notice Gone To Lunch either !
 
Paddy Brennan is a bad jockey


Timmy, I like him quite a lot, I consider him a plus in every horse he rides.
He is my top 5.
 
Murphy can ride from the front, he dosent do it often but he can. He rides Paulliac prominently in every race along with Our Vic. He also rides Dempsey from the front. The same can be said of Ruby Walsh with his hold up tactics. Im a fan of both jockeys.

Not too sure about Murphy's ride on Marodima on Saturday though.....
 
Marodima threw in a bad run not so long ago. Might be the type to be wary of.

I like Murphy and I've seen him front run for DJ often enough. I reckon he rides according to what's under him and he gave Vodka Bleu an absolute peach of a waiting ride in the SGB in December.
 
Timmy is a "love/hate" pilot according to the forums.

I love him, and he is the No.1 jockey for me in terms of betting.

Like Graham Bradley, hold up jockeys can often attract the ire of punters.

I used to follow the M C Pipe religiously, with the front running style/supreme fitness always guaranteed to get you out of trouble on a bad day.

However, I cannot fathom how Timmy is the author's target. What about Tom "f**king" Scudamore.

I think DK prefers his horses ridden how Timmy does. D E Pipe's other horses are still often ridden from the front - unfortunately more often than not by Scudamore. He simply hasn't the timing to do this, and week in week out he gets the fractinos totally wrong.

BTW, as for Marodima, he is a terrible puller, who blows his chances by expending too much energy early on. He sometimes gets away with it in softish races, but on desperate ground against good horses he is going to always come unstuck. Dont think Timmy is to blame there.
 
I was led to believe some time ago that Marodima has a few holes by someone who used to ride for Sherwood. They expressed surprise that the horse was sold for so much at the sales - can't remember exactly what the holes were, mind. To me he's the type of horse who will more often than not disappoint, he tends to find very little on quite a few occasions when looking to have plenty left - 5 runs when beaten as a short priced favourite says quite a bit I reckon and to me indicates there may be something in what it was I heard when he was sold.
 
Thanks Shadow, worth bearing in mind. And of course coming from Oliver Sherwood, it is hardly surprising the sale wasn't free of controversy!!!!

I still think he just pulls too hard.

I have never asked this before, but is there a way of stopping a hard puller? I would have though with Marodima dropping him in (Timmy like) would be worth a try? Or do some horses simply drop the bridle if they cannot lead, and he is one of them?

Also, what d'ya mean by "holes".
 
A horse described as having "holes" tends to be one who is either fragile, has had quite a few health or fitness problems or who disappoints fairly regularly with no obvious reason. The holes could be a wind problem, various lamenesses, breaking blood vessels or whatever.

It all depends on the type of puller and the temperament of the horse to be honest - they're all different! Some will settle for being dropped out the back; some will settle for being sent to the front and lob along happily; some will settle if you simply drop your hands and give them a long rein; some will pull like a bast*rd and not settle for love nor money as they are just wooden headed!!

There are various bits of tack that can be used to gain more control over a puller but I'd rather do it other ways first - having better hands is preferable! The horse could be pulling down to some problem (bad teeth, feeling an injury, bursting blood vessels or whatever - even a pollen allergy) so it is worth investigating that if they are persistently bad. Of course it can often be the rider which makes the horse pull - if their hands are bad [ie unsympathetic] a lot of horses will deliberately pull and fight to try and stop the hauling on their mouth. The majority of pullers just want to get on with the job though really. Grakle nosebands and dexter ring bits (nowadays widely used, the type that Istabraq wore when he ran) are popular pieces of equipment used to gain more control. Perversely one of the best tack changes I've used with pullers is to swap their bit for a plain rubber one. You'd think that would be suicidal if they pull as you have less control over them with a rubber bit but as often they are pulling in response to pressure on the mouth they can often improve for having a more sympathetic bit in.
 
Have a look at Vodka Bleu before and after Timmy started riding him.If DJ wasn't happy with him he would be gone by now.
 
My theory about Marodima is that he is a short-runner. He just doesn't stay a strongly run 2m (and makes things even worse for himself by pulling and needing softish ground).
 
Relkeel said:
My theory about Marodima is that he is a short-runner. He just doesn't stay a strongly run 2m (and makes things even worse for himself by pulling and needing softish ground).
Click to expand...


Following today's 4.50 at Limerick, I am now convinced that Marodima patently doesn't stay. He now has a mark of 148 over both hurdles and fences and has lost his novice status in both codes.

He has plenty of ability but I fancy that he will be impossible to place this season and won't win again for a long time.
 
Back
Top