Legendary jockey Johnny Murtagh is getting nervous about his singing debut after tomorrow's Irish Derby.
Murtagh is one of a host of famous names from the horse racing world taking part in a Paddy Power Irish Derby Lip Sync Battle at 7.30pm at the Market Square in Kildare Town.
The Meath man, who won the big race four times in the saddle, went viral this week after footage captured by his wife of him ‘practicing’ his performance got 86,000 views.
Murtagh admitted: “I haven’t been this nervous on the eve of an Irish Derby since riding Epsom winner Sinndar in the race 19 years ago – and he was on the hook to win a €1million bonus if we pulled it off. This time it’s personal."
He is heading up the trainers team and will be joined on the stage by fellow handlers Madeline Tylicki, Johnny Levins and Tracey Collins.
There is lots of competition though as a team of jockeys - Colin Keane, Gary Carroll and Ronan Whelan - will be crooning to the crowd too.
And a stable yard team including Owen Fagan (representing Juddmonte Farms), Jeff Byrne (Dermot Weld), Robbie Donnelly (Gerard O' Leary) and Paddy Curran (stable staff secretary) will also be competing, along with Paddy Power's own peformers.
A Paddy Power spokesperson said: “It’s not every day you get to see flat racing types totally out of their comfort zone – so we’ve stripped these challengers of their horse power (and their finery) to see how just how well they perform on a real stage.
"And the stable staff team could be set to make a show of the greatest showman in the game in Johnny Murtagh.”
The judges include Kildare boxer Eric Donovan, newly crowned Kildare Rose Therese Sweeney and former flat jockey Pat Smullen.
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