Oisin Murphy is ready for the Hong Kong challenge

11/11/2016

Oisin Murphy’s three-month winter riding contract in Hong Kong will kick-off with a book of eight rides at Sha Tin tomorrow, Saturday, 12 November, and the young Irishman is eager to find his feet on the challenging circuit.

“I’m looking down through the list of jockeys here and it’s like the best jockey is picked out from each country,” he told media representatives during a press conference at Sha Tin racecourse this morning (11 November). “It’s probably the most competitive racing - the tracks, the very best horses. I think it’s not going to be easy to adapt straight away here but I’ll do my very best.”

Murphy has achieved plenty already at age 21: Qatar Racing’s retained rider in Britain, champion apprentice there in 2014, more than 350 career wins on the board and successful stints in Australia and Dubai under his belt. He is already acquainted with the challenge of applying his burgeoning skills to a new environment and Hong Kong is the next test as he attempts to forge a reputation as a jockey with a global remit.

“It’s been an ambition since I was 15 or 16 to be labelled as an international jockey and you dream about things, probably thinking, realistically, they will never happen,” he said.

“After my stints in Australia and Dubai I finished in the top five in the UK jockeys’ championship this year and I asked Silvestre de Sousa what he was doing for the winter. He said he was coming to Hong Kong and that it’s the best place in the world to ride. So I thought about it for a few weeks and was umming and ahhing about whether I should apply because no one wants to be turned down!

“I was overjoyed when my application was accepted and it is genuinely a privilege to be here,” he continued. “I don’t expect it to be easy, I know that you have to work for opportunities and I’ll be starting at the bottom of the ladder. I’ll be here for nearly three months - I know I’m going to learn plenty and hopefully I can achieve a bit and come out the other side as a better jockey.”

With the exceptions of Neil Callan and Ryan Moore, British and Irish jockeys have struggled to make a mark on the Hong Kong scene in recent years. Murphy is aware of this and is hopeful that his Australian experience will prove to be beneficial. He rode 13 winners during a winter stint in Melbourne during the 2013/14 Australian season.

“I’ve been watching Hong Kong racing for the last two years on my phone and if you’re used to riding in Ireland or England it’s a completely different style to here,” he said. “It can be hard to transition. Hopefully, the experience I have from riding in the southern hemisphere can stand me in good stead here.

“It was very different when I went down to Australia and it took a while to get the hang of things,” he revealed. “It’s a completely different style to Europe, they jump a lot faster from the gate, you don’t want to get caught out wide, it tends to slow mid-race and you sprint the last 400 metres. That style is a little bit similar to here, I’d imagine - gate speed is crucial and finding a slot is very important. I don't think you can compare in a way, you just have to switch on and do as much homework as you can before the races. Hopefully things fall into place.

“Wherever I’ve gone in the world so far I’ve tried to do my homework - horses to follow, where to be in a race, you can plan for all that. You have to have a plan in your head but often, by the time the stalls are open and you’re off and running, the plan’s gone out the window and you have to ride on instinct. I suppose that more than anything is what happens here.”

Murphy has been riding since the age of four and at seven began to compete in showjumping, a sport he still follows closely. At age 15 he began riding work for his uncle, the Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning rider turned trainer Jim Culloty. 

“I started to do a few morning’s riding out for my uncle and after a few weeks I knew what I wanted to do, I got hooked on Flat racing from there and he sent me to Aidan O’Brien’s,” he recalled.

That time at Ballydoyle was invaluable to Murphy’s development and the rider shared some insights to his time under the tutelage of Ireland’s record breaking champion trainer.

“It was quite daunting,” he said. “I was the only young lad around the yard. When I went there, they weren’t used to having kids around the place. Myself and Joseph (O’Brien) would be a similar age, so we got on very well and I suppose that maybe helped how I got in there in the first place.

“After a few months I was beginning to ride more fast work and then (Aidan) took me under his wing in the sense that, instead of mucking out stables of an evening I went into the office and watched the work that was already recorded. He’d pick things out every day - it took a while to learn but he went out of his way to help me.

“I probably wasn’t the fastest or most natural to get the hang of things but by the time I finished my stint there, before going to Andrew Balding’s in England, I rode a Derby winner work twice a week, Ruler Of The World, and a Royal Ascot winner, Gale Force Ten. Memories like that, I won’t forget. It’s probably rare to be riding Group 1 horses on a daily basis, so I’ve a lot to thank him for.”

And of his expectations coming into one of the toughest sporting environments in the world, Murphy said: “I’m not expecting great things, I’m under no illusions - it’ll be tough. That’s why I came! I want to learn and hopefully have some success. The best jockeys in the world are in Hong Kong.”

Andrew Harding, the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Executive Director, Racing Authority, said: “The modern day highly-successful jockeys, the globe-trotting jockeys, are absolutely adaptable. At the remarkable age of 21, Oisin’s already done some considerable globe-trotting with success, obviously in Europe, but also applying himself and extending himself in Australia and Dubai. He was keen to come here, to what is racing’s most international scene, and we’re very pleased to have him here. I think he will be an exciting addition to the roster.”