SPRINT TO THE FINISH:It has been an exceptional year for Irish flat racing with the invincible Sea the Stars keeping the hopes of many afloat, and a thrilling two-way battle for the title of Champion Jockey
LAST NIGHT THE flat racing season came to a close with the announcement of the winner of the 2009 Jockey Championship – too late for us to reveal the outcome, but the real excitement has been the battle between the two main contenders, in a vintage year. With the backing of the most powerful operations in Irish racing behind them, this year’s front runners were Johnny Murtagh, Ballydoyle’s principal jockey, and Pat Smullen, who rides for Moyglare.
Both jockeys had a tally of winners in the 80s. To have 50 winners in a season is excellent, to be pushing 90 is phenomenal. Without the most powerful trainers in the business, Dermot Weld and Aidan O’Brien, these figures would not be possible. “If you don’t have the power of a big stable behind you, you just don’t win the championship,” says Smullen. Weld trains horses for Moyglare stud, Prince Khalid Abdullah, Dr Ronan Lambe, and Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. Ballydoyle’s owners include Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.
Murtagh has won the title three times. “At the start of the year, I don’t set out to be Champion Jockey. It’s to ride as many winners as I can, to get the Group One races.”
Murtagh’s strike rate this year, 32 per cent, is especially impressive, because he spends weeks of the season abroad, riding for Aidan O’Brien at Ascot, Epsom, and Goodwood. He was in Paris for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and is just back from Santa Anita, where he raced in the Breeders’ Cup.
He won the Irish Derby this year with Fame and Glory. “That was a great day, great win, good horse. I rode Yeats when he won Royal Ascot, that’s history now, it was his fourth Gold Cup, no other horse has done it. I get a good buzz out of them all.” This season, Ballydoyle was frequently pitted against the invincible Sea the Stars. “We had 12 Group Ones this year, and Sea the Stars beat us in about five races.”
For Murtagh, winning the title demonstrates his consistency. “There’s no financial reward, it just means you’re on top of the pile of jockeys. I’d be competitive whatever I do. Whether it’s Santa Anita, or Dundalk on a Friday night, I like winning, I like giving it my all. We start off in March, and go till the end of November. It’s a long season, you have to watch your weight, to really be on top of the game, it’s not easy.”
Pat Smullen had his first Group One win at the age of 19 with Tarascon. Going into last night’s decider, he was aiming to complete a hat-trick of Champion Jockey titles, having won it last year and the year before, and three more times before that. This season he has had big wins aboard Casual Conquest, Mad about You, Famous Name and Profound Beauty. “Whether I win the championship or not, I’ll look back and say I’ve had a good year. That’s the most important thing.”
For Smullen, a good head is as vital as the extreme physical fitness required. “You’ll get killed in this game if you’re not tough mentally. If you ever give a weakness and think that you’re not good enough, you can get exposed very quickly. It’s a ruthless game.” He is quick to dismiss the idea that a jockey can get close to a horse. “It’s more about knowing the horse, trying to figure out the mental strengths and weaknesses, their distances. You start getting sentimental, that won’t pay the bills.”
Teamwork is crucial to any success. “You’re listening to the trainer, he’s pointing out how he feels it should be ridden, there’s so much work being put in from early spring to get those horses to a level where they can perform. It goes all the way down to the lads in the yard. But the amount of work that goes into those two minutes of maybe glory – it’s absolutely massive.”
As it is for most jockeys, weight – and keeping it down – is a struggle for Smullen. “I have to be very careful, but again, I’m very fortunate, I’m not asked to do light weights. Still, you have to keep yourself in very good shape, have to keep the weight down, have to sweat every day – it’s a way of life.” He is fiercely competitive. “I’ve always wanted to win and I still want to win every race, whether that’s the worst race in Ballinrobe on a Monday or the best race in the Curragh on a Sunday – that’s my approach. I ride a lot for owner/breeders, and to have a win on a horse that can boost the pedigree of the whole family, it’s for the whole team as opposed to just myself.”
This year’s end-of-season will see a change of pace for Murtagh and his family. “I normally go to Dubai every year for three months, but this year I’m taking a break.” Next month, he’s travelling to Mauritius with the family, for an international jockeys’ challenge. “I’m taking January and February off, to have a complete break, recharge the batteries.”
Smullen will go to Dubai to race. A huge motivation for the jockeys going overseas to ride in the Irish off-season is to keep match fit. “We have young kids; we’re going to Dubai, it’s great for the family. You’re out there to get the job done, you can’t lose the competitive edge.”
Murtagh says he is intent on putting something back into the community, so he’s starting a boxing club in Kildare. He was a junior Irish boxing champion before he got into racing. “I go into town and I see young lads hanging around, doing nothing.” He will encourage his fellow jockeys to come and train there. “So I’ll also see Smullen in the ring in my new boxing club!”
