Johnny Murtagh has Derby doubts about St Nicholas Abbey
The Investec Derby is just eight days away and Johnny Murtagh is having doubts. Not about the opposition but about the horses in his own yard.
Murtagh, as first jockey to Aidan O’Brien, has what appears to be the enviable choice of the first four horses in the ante-post market for the Investec Derby. Yet despite winning three Derby trials with different colts, he has always maintained his belief in St Nicholas Abbey, who has been the favourite for the race since finishing last season as the champion two-year-old of Europe.
St Nicholas Abbey was undefeated last season but could finish only sixth behind Makfi in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on his only start this year while, Midas Touch, Cape Blanco and Jan Vermeer have all won in impressive fashion.
Finally, after riding St Nicholas Abbey at O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stables this morning there were the first concrete signs that Murtagh may be having doubts. In an official statement O’Brien said: “Johnny Murtagh rode St Nicholas Abbey this morning and thought he might not have shown the same sparkle he showed last Tuesday morning, therefore he won't make up his mind what horse he rides in the Investec Derby until the middle of next week.”
Just two weeks ago Murtagh rode Cape Blanco to win the Dante Stakes at York. The race is usually considered one of the most reliable Derby trials but Murtagh dismissed the thought that he might be the horse that the jockey would be riding at Epsom next week. “If St Nicholas Abbey turns up in the form of his Racing Post Trophy win, the others are playing for places,” he said, seemingly impervious to any second thoughts.
Murtagh had been equally unequivocal when Midas Touch was the first big winner of the season, after a slow start for O’Brien, winning the Derby Trial at Leopardstown earlier this month. However, there was the first subtle shift when the trio were joined in the Derby pecking order by Jan Vermeer, who impressed many observers when he won the Gallinule Stakes at the Curragh last Sunday.
It was after Jan Vermeer’s win that the first rumours started to circulate that the colt’s performance had impressed Murtagh enough to think twice. He had already admitted that it was a far inferior version of St Nicholas Abbey that had run at Newmarket, when he had failed to take a hand in the finish despite being well-placed at halfway. But Murtagh was still keeping the faith. “I haven’t been getting it right in the last couple of years, so God willing I do this time,” he said.
That reference was due to the record of Murtagh and previous stable jockeys who have been given the choice of the top rides at Ballydoyle. O’Brien, as the racing part of the Coolmore Stud, regularly begins a season with 40 impeccably-bred colts still entered for the Derby and then has to sift through them, hoping to find the nugget amid the silt, and often leaving his jockey with a bewildering array of talent from which to make the choice.
O’Brien has run a staggering 41 colts in the Derby the last 12 years – including six 12 months ago – and still has six available to him this time. Along with his quality quartet there are At First Sight and Bright Horizon but an O’Brien-trained runner has not won the race since High Chaparral in 2002.
That year Michael Kinane was stable jockey and elected to ride the favourite, Hawk Wing, which allowed Murtagh to come in for the biggest spare ride that any jockey could wish for as High Chaparral beat his stable companion by two lengths.
Now Murtgah just wishes that he could go to any lengths to make the right decision. However, he will be delaying any decision until the last possible moment, although some backers are not waiting that long and Jan Vermeer has been well supported in the past 48 hours.
A year ago O’Brien supported Murtagh in his decision that Rip Van Winkle was the best chance from their six runners to beat Sea The Stars, to the point where they deployed pacemakers to slow the tempo in order to conserve Rip Van Winkle’s stamina. In the end he was not even the best O’Brien runner in the race, finishing fourth.
Making his final choice may not be the end of Murtagh’s worries.
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