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15 Nov 10
14:18
Joined:
Date Joined:
18 Jan 09
UH OH
waits in the wings for eye brows to hang up his boots
and when he does after one year gets foooked by the agha khan
will not be a happy camper
waits in the wings for eye brows to hang up his boots
and when he does after one year gets foooked by the agha khan
will not be a happy camper
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Business is buisness,if you were the owner of such a string and J Murtagh became available (consider the history here) would you not "jump" on him?
Frans talents are best utilised at Bellewstown,Wexford and Tramore.Ordinary jockeys are best suited to low level racing.
John Oxx is looking forward to renewing his association with Johnny Murtagh after the jockey was retained to ride all of the Aga Khan's Irish-trained horses in 2011.
Murtagh was stable jockey for Oxx between 1992-2003, during which time he rode 18 Group One winners for one of the world's leading owners. Most memorably he guided Oxx's Sinndar to victory in the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the Arc in 2000, and is now back in the job following his resignation as number one for Coolmore last week.
"Myself and Johnny have obviously had a very successful association over the years and when Johnny announced that he was leaving Ballydoyle, His Highness was keen to renew that old association," said Oxx, who has 90 horses in training for the Aga Khan.
Murtagh's appointment brings to an end Fran Berry's brief stint as Oxx's stable jockey. Berry was given the job at the start of the year following the retirement of Mick Kinane at the end of 2009 and although he will not be retained in 2011, Oxx hopes he will still ride for the yard.
"What has happened is no reflection on Fran Berry, who is one of the country's leading jockeys and is currently having his best ever season. We've had a great relationship and a very successful one and he'll continue to ride for the stable when the opportunity arises," the Currabeg handler continued.
"Obviously Fran is not retained by the Aga Khan and presumably he'll be working as a freelance, but we look forward to him riding for us in the future. I hope we have some nice horses for next season. I think last year's two-years-olds were my worst for over 20 years, so we were a bit pessimistic about this past season.
"This year's two-year-olds look much more promising and they've been winning maidens towards the end of the year, so we're pretty hopeful we've got a better bunch of horses."
Murtagh expressed delight at being handed the role, saying: "I am thrilled to be renewing my association with His Highness' horses in Ireland. We have shared some fantastic moments over the years and I have always enjoyed riding in the green and red colours.
"This will also give me an opportunity to ride for John Oxx again. I started off riding for Mr Oxx and it has always been a pleasure to be part of his Currabeg team."
Murtagh becomes the first retained rider in Ireland for the Aga Khan, who added: "We have had some wonderful days in the past and we look forward to renewing our successful association. I believe it is vital to the continued success of my bloodstock operation to have a retained jockey in the countries where my horses are trained."
Murtagh was stable jockey for Oxx between 1992-2003, during which time he rode 18 Group One winners for one of the world's leading owners. Most memorably he guided Oxx's Sinndar to victory in the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the Arc in 2000, and is now back in the job following his resignation as number one for Coolmore last week.
"Myself and Johnny have obviously had a very successful association over the years and when Johnny announced that he was leaving Ballydoyle, His Highness was keen to renew that old association," said Oxx, who has 90 horses in training for the Aga Khan.
Murtagh's appointment brings to an end Fran Berry's brief stint as Oxx's stable jockey. Berry was given the job at the start of the year following the retirement of Mick Kinane at the end of 2009 and although he will not be retained in 2011, Oxx hopes he will still ride for the yard.
"What has happened is no reflection on Fran Berry, who is one of the country's leading jockeys and is currently having his best ever season. We've had a great relationship and a very successful one and he'll continue to ride for the stable when the opportunity arises," the Currabeg handler continued.
"Obviously Fran is not retained by the Aga Khan and presumably he'll be working as a freelance, but we look forward to him riding for us in the future. I hope we have some nice horses for next season. I think last year's two-years-olds were my worst for over 20 years, so we were a bit pessimistic about this past season.
"This year's two-year-olds look much more promising and they've been winning maidens towards the end of the year, so we're pretty hopeful we've got a better bunch of horses."
Murtagh expressed delight at being handed the role, saying: "I am thrilled to be renewing my association with His Highness' horses in Ireland. We have shared some fantastic moments over the years and I have always enjoyed riding in the green and red colours.
"This will also give me an opportunity to ride for John Oxx again. I started off riding for Mr Oxx and it has always been a pleasure to be part of his Currabeg team."
Murtagh becomes the first retained rider in Ireland for the Aga Khan, who added: "We have had some wonderful days in the past and we look forward to renewing our successful association. I believe it is vital to the continued success of my bloodstock operation to have a retained jockey in the countries where my horses are trained."
18 group 1s in 11 years with Oxx, he rode 49 in 3 years at Coolmore, not comparing like with like but why Johnny why? Do ye think Murtagh's confirmaion as jock will see Oxx and Halford get more yearlings. Also, you could nearly take that this means he might be Halford's number 1 so he might ride Sheikh Mo 2yos. Those Halford apprentices mightn't be happy either, nor will Latham as he'll surely hoover up a few of the Ger Lyons(being the ambitious/arrogant fcuker that he is will probably get a kick out of having Murtagh in the plate) rides. In short a trail of destruction.
Fran Berry's association with the Aga Khan had an unfortunate start when he got into a bit of traffic problems on Mouriyan in the 2009 Doncaster Leger. Other than that he has not much wrong. The Aga's colours just weren't competitive this year. He did win his first domestic Group 1 on Pathfork.
I know some forum lads don't have a great opinion of Fran Berry even though he has gone close to winning this year's championship despite Oxx's poor year.
I know some forum lads don't have a great opinion of Fran Berry even though he has gone close to winning this year's championship despite Oxx's poor year.
It will be interesting to know if Fran will be still riding out for Oxx and has first choice of the other horses in the yard.
My guess is that he could link up with Mrs H among others who is getting more and more into the flat and had two top class juveniles this season.
My guess is that he could link up with Mrs H among others who is getting more and more into the flat and had two top class juveniles this season.
fran is a serious rider and lets hope next year he will be champion and show all of his knockers what a top rider he is
Being champion jockey is not testament to greatness,Hanagan is top jockey in Britain yet he isn't in the top 10 when it comes to ability.Riding winners at kips means nothing
Do you want to name ten that are better than Paul Hanagan Robo
fran berry is type he will always be 2nd fiddle;cos thats what his riding abilities deserve imho
I'LLchance 10 or so off the top of my head moneypenny. Dettori,Fallon,Moore,Buick,Spencer,Hughes,Fortune,Queally,Catlin,R Hills,Baker,Catlin,Crowley. IF i'm allowed use Irish pilots then u can add Murtagh,Smullen,Mc Donagh,Lordan,Heffernan and O'donoghue.
Definitely must be losing the plot when I'm agreeing with the forum nutter Robo that being champion jockey is not testament to greatness,Sanders and Darley 2 who spring immediately to mind.
Definitely must be losing the plot when I'm agreeing with the forum nutter Robo that being champion jockey is not testament to greatness,Sanders and Darley 2 who spring immediately to mind.
At the end of the day what distinquishes a journeyman from a top rider is how they perform on the big day.
What has made Murtagh good is that he turns up on the big day. I subscribe to a stats site in the UK and one of the best perfomring stats in the UK is Johnny Murtagh in group races.
Murtagh would break a punter if followed on regular raced days but it is the group races that make an organisation profitable.
As intimated here already by others Fran Berry is the exact opposite. Absolutely top class at Dundalk, Tramore and the like he goes missing on the big day. I have written on it here countless times.
He rode a horse in a group 3 (forget the name) for the Aga earlier in the year (think it was April or May) at Leopardstown and I remember commenting at the time that it was the most inept ride I had ever witnessed at the track.
Best move the Aga ever made to get rid of him.
What has made Murtagh good is that he turns up on the big day. I subscribe to a stats site in the UK and one of the best perfomring stats in the UK is Johnny Murtagh in group races.
Murtagh would break a punter if followed on regular raced days but it is the group races that make an organisation profitable.
As intimated here already by others Fran Berry is the exact opposite. Absolutely top class at Dundalk, Tramore and the like he goes missing on the big day. I have written on it here countless times.
He rode a horse in a group 3 (forget the name) for the Aga earlier in the year (think it was April or May) at Leopardstown and I remember commenting at the time that it was the most inept ride I had ever witnessed at the track.
Best move the Aga ever made to get rid of him.
Oh forgot to add on the same day Berry rode a treble but while that might make him the mugs darling the Aga Khan was left 50K out of pocket plus a loss of black type
I think we all know what Berry is like, nice rider for two year olds in that he's not that hard on a horse, softly softly...
Good to produce a horse on time but when things get rough tends to be outridden in a finish
Good to produce a horse on time but when things get rough tends to be outridden in a finish
What about Fran for the Ballydoyle job? Seems unlikely but it would be a nice mix with Seamie, O'Donoghue & young Joseph 
oh dear if they took on berry it would be the end of ballydoyle'PLEASE SIGN HIM UP MAGNIER LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
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