Johnny Murtagh, who has ridden three of the last nine Derby winners, is expected to partner Rip Van Winkle in Saturday’s renewal of the Classic after the Ballydoyle yard of Aidan O’Brien confirmed likely riding arrangements yesterday. Seamus Heffernan is expected to ride Fame And Glory, the favourite for the race with some bookies, while Ryan Moore, the champion jockey, will partner Black Bear Island, the Dante Stakes winner.
The news that Murtagh will be aboard Rip Van Winkle, fourth home in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket last month, saw him cut to 9-2 (from 6-1) 熟女by Coral, while Fame And Glory has been pushed out to 4-1 by Totesport. Sea The Stars, the 2,000 Guineas winner, also contracted and is now clear favourite at a top price of 100-30 with Stan James.
O’Brien’s three remaining contenders for the race, Masterofthehorse, Age Of Aquarius and Golden Sword, are likely to be ridden by Richard Hughes, Pat Smullen and Colm O’Donoghue respectively. “These riding plans are not set in stone,” a statement from Ballydoyle said, “but this is the way we are thinking at the moment.”
Murtagh’s presence on Rip Van Winkle will be seen as a huge positive sign by many punters, but the odds are a measure of the dilemma that has faced him in recent weeks.
William Hill offer 1-2 that O’Brien will train Saturday’s winner – but even if a wave of public money arrives for Rip Van Winkle, he is unlikely to start any shorter than 3-1. That would suggest O’Brien has a 66% chance of success, with Murtagh’s chance no bigger than 25%. The difference between the two – a 6-4 chance, near enough – encompasses a variety of possibilities, all of them less than ideal from Murtagh’s point of view.
“Anyone who thinks I’m sure to be right just doesn’t know racing,” Murtagh said yesterday. “If you do know racing, you know that anything can happen on the day. There’s the distance, there’s the course and there’s everything that goes with it.”
Murtagh’s three previous winners in the Derby – Sinndar, High Chaparral and Motivator – mean that he is already ahead of most post-war jockeys, and in the same bracket as riders including Kieren Fallon, Pat Eddery and Walter Swinburn. Only four men, though, have ridden four Derby winners or more since the start of the 20th century, and Rip Van Winkle is now the chosen vehicle as Murtagh seeks to join Lester Piggott, Willie Carson, Charlie Smirke and Steve Donoghue.
“Every time you win it, it’s just as good,” Murtagh says. “You go through all the emotions before the race and the excitement during it, and then there’s the release when you know you’ve done it. Every bit of the day is important, even just getting the horse to the start, it all plays a part.
“You don’t get many chances to ride around Epsom, so when you get there, you want to get a feel for it again. When you walk the track, you can see the crowds and feel the history and the atmosphere. It’s marvellous to be part of it, the biggest day that there is in Flat racing. If you’re not up for it after you’ve seen all that, you’re in the wrong game.
“But once you get going, it’s just like any other race. A lot is always going to depend on how your horse is travelling, but if it’s a horse that handles the track, it’s usually travelling well. My Derby winners were all great horses that didn’t lack in any department and handled everything on the day.”
Murtagh’s feelings this Derby day are likely to be recorded on the Twitter website, as part of his duties as Irish Flat racing’s first official Ambassador. “It’s a pleasure to be part of promoting Irish racing,” he says, “but it’s the horses that are the real 熟女ambassadors. It’s not just this year, it’s the last few years. The Irish are really strong now, and they’ll do all the talking for me.”
His postings on Twitter a week ago, meanwhile, suggest he knows quality when he sees it, and that he is generous in defeat. “Watching the match,” he wrote. “Come on Man U”. Then, a couple of hours later: “Barca different class. Well done.”