Oisin Murphy: Dragon Symbol can fire over five if Nunthorpe appears on his agenda
Oisin Murphy reflects on the July Festival, says he's blocking out title talk and looks ahead to Saturday's rides including King's Lynn at Newbury.
July Festival reflections: Dragon has the pace for the Nunthorpe
Dragon Symbol ran a cracker in the Darley July Cup, just bumping into one on the day. He had a hard race at Royal Ascot and the aim now will be to freshen him up before his next start which will either be in the Nunthorpe at York or the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville.
He’s a very quick horse so I don’t think dropping to five in the Nunthorpe would matter to him, he’s quite versatile and as long as he keeps trying as hard as he is I don’t think he’ll have any worries. He obviously drifted right at Ascot, but on Saturday he went exactly where I wanted him to go.
Starman wasn’t one that got away as I made my decision 10 days before. I spoke to Ed Walker and told him and he was a top man about it. I was delighted for him – it was a well deserved first Group One – and I hope if Tom Marquand is unavailable for whatever reason in the future I can get back on him.
I’m thrilled for the owners as well, they put a lot in and he looked very very good on Saturday.
Alcohol Free put in a good performance in a deep race for the Falmouth Stakes. It was always going to be tough with no natural frontrunner and she ran a cracker in third, proving herself again as well up to the level.
I hope she’s got more Group One success in her and hopefully we can go to Goodwood for the Sussex Stakes to try and make amends. It will be a tough race against the colts and older horses but she is extremely versatile.
I know she’s won a Group One on the Rowley Mile but she’s better when she’s meeting the ground on a flatter track. You can see by her action she gets a little unorganised running downhill, so hopefully she’ll handle Goodwood well and she’ll go close.
Live Your Dream was a very nice winner for myself and Saeed bin Suroor in the bet365 Trophy. He’s a lovely, big, relaxed horse who stays well and he’s gone up 7lb to a mark of 101 on the back of the win.
He finds plenty for pressure and I hope he can go through the levels, he’s a big, gorgeous horse. The Sky Bet Ebor at York or the Geoffrey Freer at Newbury would be sensible targets for him, they’re too close together to run in both but I certainly think we’ll see him in one of those next.
Andrew Balding’s juveniles had a great week and Frankella improved on her third start to land the maiden fillies’ race, she’s impeccably bred and it was great for her to get her head in front.
She runs on Friday at Newbury in the Rose Bowl Stakes in a bid to get a bit of black type and hopefully she can get some as she’s doing well.
Masekela ran a great race when a narrow second in the Superlative Stakes but I felt I should’ve won.
I raced upsides William Buick and though there was a bit of space for me to go through he’s a bit babyish still and he didn’t get going until a bit after Native Trail had gone for home.
I was in front of him after the line and I think they’re two really smart horses. The future is bright for Masekela, though, and he might miss Goodwood, we’ll see, all options are open at the moment.
He’s a tall and immature horse so he did like the faster ground, but I think he’ll handle all types in the future. For the moment he wants nice ground. He’s a good horse.
Blocking out Jockeys’ Championship talk
Worth remembering this one when the title race finishes in October
— chris cook (@claimsfive) July 13, 2021
1 Murphy
2 Marquand
3 Buick pic.twitter.com/uLVPBi2uxc
It’s tight at the top in the Jockeys’ Championship – I went three clear with a treble at Lingfield on Wednesday but I’m sure it will be all change again by the time you’re reading this with Tom Marquand and William Buick firing in the winners.
I think most people will know by now that I don’t particularly enjoy it. I love it when it happens, don’t get me wrong, but the day to day slog in pursuit of riding more winners than everyone else, taking in a lot of miles, is a real grind.
I haven’t put pressure on myself to be Champion Jockey this year. The last two years have been very tough mentally and I’m not allowing myself to get in that sort of mindset this year. I go racing and try not to think about the championship.
We’re all trying to ride as many winners as we can. From Guineas weekend to Champions Day, it’s pretty relentless so we’ll see what happens and what position I’m in towards the end of the season.
It’s great that other people are already talking about it, the one meeting per day rule has certainly made it more of an open contest, but I won’t be thinking about it too much. Not yet, anyway.
Great night at Wembley despite penalty woe
The best boss! pic.twitter.com/ZeBo58escV
— Oisín Murphy (@oismurphy) July 11, 2021
I was at Wembley for the Euro 2020 Final between Italy and England and it was a brilliant night, an incredible atmosphere and I really enjoyed it.
Earlier in the day I was riding at Salisbury and so I didn’t get there until 7pm, so I didn’t see any misdemeanours or trouble or anything like that.
As an Irishman I didn’t really mind who won, I thought it would be great for the country if England won and I was a bit gutted for them, particularly after they played so well in the first half.
SATURDAY RIDES – NEWBURY
1.15 – KINGOFHELL
I don’t know this horse. He’s a Dark Angel newcomer for Ed Walker, he seems very well bred, and obviously the owner has done very well with horses like Came From The Dark and Stormy Atlantic. This type of horse often improve for a race and this fellow might fall into that category.
1.50 – FELIX
He’s in the right race here at Listed level, it looks an achievable target for him. I thought he ran well enough in the Wolferton Stakes at Royal Ascot when he was sixth behind Juan Elcano. Hopefully he can go well.
2.25 – WITHHOLD
A nice ride to pick up for Roger Charlton in the Bahrain Turf Series Handicap over two miles. There looks to be lots of pace in the race but if he could get to the front and dictate you’d have to think he’d go well. We’ll have to see, though, in a big field.
3.00 – KING’S LYNN
I can’t wait to ride King’s Lynn in the Group Three Hackwood Stakes. If he’s in the same kind of form that he was at Royal Ascot, where I thought he was unlucky twice, then he must go well. It’s a competitive race and Owen Burrows’ horse, Tabdeed, looks the one we have to beat, but this is the natural next target for King’s Lynn and I hope he’s up to the task.
3.40 – AMAZONIAN DREAM
I have a good record for Rod Millman but this one looks up against it at the weights in the Weatherbys Super Sprint so we’ll have to hope for the best. Chipotle won well at Royal Ascot and he deserves to be favourite, he looks my idea of the likely winner with Richard Hannon’s horse, Gubbass, another contender. The fancied horses have a good record in this race and I expect it will play out like that again.
4.10 – PRETTY IN GREY
She’s owned by Barbara Keller, the same owner as Blond Me, and she reverts to handicap company having run at Listed level recently. She has a nice turn of foot so the plan will be to ride her quietly and finish off well.
4.45 – FANTALOPE
She’s a filly we’ve been very patient with, she’s three now and this is just her third career start. She runs in a hood and she has a decent level of ability, I do think she’ll be in the first three. It would just be great if she could break her maiden tag here for George Strawbridge.
5.20 – THE BLUE BOWER
She ran well for me two starts ago at Kempton where she stayed on well for third over six, finishing strongly. On that evidence she’s ready for this step back up in trip to seven furlongs so hopefully she’ll go well.
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