Timmy Murphy, who rode Comply Or Die to victory in the 2008 Grand National, recorded his first winner since deciding to switch his attention to Flat racing when Houdini held on by a head to win a sprint handicap at Wolverhampton on Monday.
The winner was trained by Jamie Osborne, also a former National Hunt jockey, and gave Murphy his first success since January 2014, when he was ruled out of race-riding to undergo surgery after dislocating his shoulder for the second time in three months. The first dislocation occurred during a fight in the weighing room at Newbury in November with his fellow jockey Dominic Elsworth.
Murphy, 40, announced on 1 May that he had applied for a licence to ride on the Flat but he was forced to delay his debut on the level when the scheduled meeting at Brighton last Wednesday was abandoned due to high winds. He drew a blank from two rides at Thirsk on Saturday but rode a well-judged race to win on the 7-1 chance Houdini, who hit the front a furlong from home and then kept on bravely to hold off the late charge of Liam Keniry aboard Arlecchino’s Leap.
“My place is fast resembling a home for retired jump jockeys,” Osborne said on Monday. “I’ve got Jimmy McCarthy running the yard, Choc Thornton managing a few owners’ horses and Timmy riding out.
“It was great for Timmy. I rode with him and he’s always been a phenomenally good rider, a great horseman and jockey and very talented. And, watching the race, I think he didn’t look like he was having his third ride on the Flat.
“I think it’s great that he’s got himself back on some sort of track and his weight is good. He doesn’t look drawn and didn’t sweat to do nine stone, so I think and hope that there’s a second career there for him. He’s been riding out for me now for a couple of months and I’ll do my best to support him where I can. A good rider is a good rider.”
Murphy is the latest of several former National Hunt riders to switch to the Flat, including Jim Crowley, PJ McDonald and Graham Lee, also a Grand National winner, aboard Amberleigh House in 2004.
Lee finished third behind Richard Hughes and Ryan Moore in last season’s Flat jockeys’ championship with 128 winners while Crowley was 15th in the table with 82 wins.
“Graham Lee and Jim Crowley were probably the catalyst for Timmy having a go,” Osborne said, “and you can’t blame them if you can do the weight because, unless you’re McCoy, there’s only so much hammer that your body can take. Those guys are very experienced and it shows in their riding. They’ve just had a different kind of grounding from the others.
“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the way a lot of the Flat jockeys ride but, when you’ve done that other job, maybe riding on the Flat can seem a little simpler. It happens more quickly but, when you think of the thousands of rides and all the winners that Timmy has ridden, yes, everything will happen marginally quicker but, when you’ve got that much experience, it won’t take long to get used to that.
“One thing that he has always been is a master of almost smuggling a horse through from A to B as efficiently as possible. That was one of his strengths as a jump jockey and that is even more applicable on the Flat. The fact that he’s always been very good at that aspect will stand him in good stead.”
Five runners have been declared for Group Three Musidora Stakes at York on Wednesday including Together Forever, the winner of the Group One Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket on her final start last season.
Aidan O’Brien’s filly is joined in the field by John Gosden’s Star Of Seville, the easy winner of a conditions event at Newbury last month, who will be ridden by Frankie Dettori. Star Of Seville is currently top-priced at 10-1 for the Oaks at Epsom next month, while Together Forever can be backed at 16-1.
Night Of Thunder, last season’s 2,000 Guineas winner, is the 3-1 favourite to make a successful start to his four-year-old career in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on Saturday.
A total of 19 horses were declared at the five-day stage for the Group One contest over Newbury’s straight mile, including Karakontie (9-2), the winner of last season’s Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita, and the five-year-old mare Integral (6-1), a dual Group One winner for Sir Michael Stoute last season.
Irish Rookie, who outran odds of 63-1 to finish second to Ervedya in the Poule D’Essai des Pouliches (French 1,000 Guineas) at Longchamp on Sunday, will step up to 10 furlongs for her next start in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks).
“She was certainly coming back at the winner at the line,” Martyn Meade, who trains Irish Rookie at the historic Sefton Lodge Stables in Newmarket, said on Monday.
“I thought they’d swallow her up but she thought she’d won the race, only to be asked to go again when the winner came past. The fact that she came back tells me we ought to try her at 10 furlongs with the French Oaks [on 14 June] the logical race. She’s also in the Pretty Polly [Stakes at The Curragh on 28 June].
“Whether she’d get further than that, I don’t know, but it is very important we get it right from now on. We almost brought her back to seven furlongs after [she finished sixth in the 1,000] Guineas and that would have been the wrong thing to do.”
