Recent from talks
Johnny Murtagh
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Johnny Murtagh
Johnny Murtagh (born 14 May 1970) is an Irish flat racing trainer and former jockey from Bohermeen, near Navan, Kells, County Meath. As a jockey he won many of the major flat races in Europe, including all the Irish Classics, all the Group 1 races at Royal Ascot, The Derby, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Europe's biggest flat race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He was also a five-time Irish flat racing Champion Jockey. As a trainer, based at stables near Kildare, he has saddled a winner at Royal Ascot and an Irish Classic winner.
Murtagh was born in Navan, County Meath. He was a keen amateur boxer as a young boy and was once the Irish boys' under-14 champion. He also came close to joining Blackburn Rovers' youth football team.
At a boxing match one evening in his native County Meath, a spectator advised his mother that Murtagh had the attributes to make a good jockey: balance, poise, weight, strength, and courage. His mother wrote to the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) in County Kildare, a school for apprentice jockeys, and got a two-week trial for her son. He was one of 26 successful candidates who progressed onto the RACE 10-month course. At its end, he was apprenticed to John Oxx, one of Ireland's leading trainers.
Murtagh rode his first winner, Chicago Style, at Limerick in 1987.
He became stable jockey to Oxx in 1992, and from then until his departure in 2003, rode 18 Group 1 winners for Oxx's leading owner, the Aga Khan.
For Oxx, Murtagh rode Sinndar to win The Derby and Irish Derby, as well as the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 2000. He won the Derby again on the Michael Bell-trained Motivator. Murtagh was also the regular jockey for talented filly Soviet Song. In 2004, the partnership won two Group 1 races, including the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. Here she beat a strong field of colts, including the 2,000 Guineas winner Haafhd.
From 2008 to 2010, Murtagh was stable jockey for Coolmore, taking over from the drug-banned Kieren Fallon. He had been riding for them on an ad-hoc basis since 2002, most notably winning the Derby on High Chaparral in 2002. In 2008, he rode 19 Group 1 winners in a single season for Aidan O'Brien (21 in total for Coolmore), and followed it up in 2009 with another 10, including the Irish Derby, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Sussex Stakes, Ascot Gold Cup, St. James's Palace Stakes and an Irish 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas double.
He resigned his post as stable jockey to Coolmore in November 2010, issuing a statement via his agent to say he had informed Coolmore he wouldn't be renewing his contract. No reason was given but there was speculation that O'Brien was looking for another jockey, and on Murtagh's recent return from the Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs, where he had ridden four losers for O'Brien, one bookmaker had been offering odds on his replacement. His last Group 1 winner for the team was Roderic O'Connor in the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud on 31 October 2010.
Hub AI
Johnny Murtagh AI simulator
(@Johnny Murtagh_simulator)
Johnny Murtagh
Johnny Murtagh (born 14 May 1970) is an Irish flat racing trainer and former jockey from Bohermeen, near Navan, Kells, County Meath. As a jockey he won many of the major flat races in Europe, including all the Irish Classics, all the Group 1 races at Royal Ascot, The Derby, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Europe's biggest flat race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He was also a five-time Irish flat racing Champion Jockey. As a trainer, based at stables near Kildare, he has saddled a winner at Royal Ascot and an Irish Classic winner.
Murtagh was born in Navan, County Meath. He was a keen amateur boxer as a young boy and was once the Irish boys' under-14 champion. He also came close to joining Blackburn Rovers' youth football team.
At a boxing match one evening in his native County Meath, a spectator advised his mother that Murtagh had the attributes to make a good jockey: balance, poise, weight, strength, and courage. His mother wrote to the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) in County Kildare, a school for apprentice jockeys, and got a two-week trial for her son. He was one of 26 successful candidates who progressed onto the RACE 10-month course. At its end, he was apprenticed to John Oxx, one of Ireland's leading trainers.
Murtagh rode his first winner, Chicago Style, at Limerick in 1987.
He became stable jockey to Oxx in 1992, and from then until his departure in 2003, rode 18 Group 1 winners for Oxx's leading owner, the Aga Khan.
For Oxx, Murtagh rode Sinndar to win The Derby and Irish Derby, as well as the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 2000. He won the Derby again on the Michael Bell-trained Motivator. Murtagh was also the regular jockey for talented filly Soviet Song. In 2004, the partnership won two Group 1 races, including the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. Here she beat a strong field of colts, including the 2,000 Guineas winner Haafhd.
From 2008 to 2010, Murtagh was stable jockey for Coolmore, taking over from the drug-banned Kieren Fallon. He had been riding for them on an ad-hoc basis since 2002, most notably winning the Derby on High Chaparral in 2002. In 2008, he rode 19 Group 1 winners in a single season for Aidan O'Brien (21 in total for Coolmore), and followed it up in 2009 with another 10, including the Irish Derby, Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Sussex Stakes, Ascot Gold Cup, St. James's Palace Stakes and an Irish 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas double.
He resigned his post as stable jockey to Coolmore in November 2010, issuing a statement via his agent to say he had informed Coolmore he wouldn't be renewing his contract. No reason was given but there was speculation that O'Brien was looking for another jockey, and on Murtagh's recent return from the Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs, where he had ridden four losers for O'Brien, one bookmaker had been offering odds on his replacement. His last Group 1 winner for the team was Roderic O'Connor in the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud on 31 October 2010.
Recent media