Johnny Murtagh- the 2011 champion jockey
In 2011, the champion of his sport, Johnny Murtagh won the honour of the Champion jockey for the fifth time. He took it from the 2010 champion riding sensation, Pat Smullen. He won the title by a total of four more wins than the 2010 champion. Johnny Murtagh
amassed eighty-three winners for the 2011 season.
"To be champion jockey in Ireland means you've been very consistent throughout the year, one of the highlights would have been dead-heating in the Irish St Leger on Jukebox Jury, that was my first win in that race and I've won all the Irish classics," commented
Murtagh.
"It's great for Johnny, he has been determined all year, it has been a big effort and he has shown enthusiasm and dedication and is still one of the best in Europe," commented Oxx.
The jockey completed a double with Takar and Call To Battle, both are trained by John Oxx. The tracks at Leopardstown were shared by the rival, Pat Smullen, but the stars were shining for the Irish rider.
Victory in the race and the championship had an altogether another emotional dimension to it as Takar is owned by Aga Khan. Johnny Murtagh was the stable jockey for Oxx from 1992-2003 and the era had him winning eighteen Group 1 winners for the same owner,
Aga Khan. Winning the championship in the same colours got him reunited with the previous connections in the 2011 season.
It was in 2008 that he joined the team of the hall mark trainer, Aidan O’Brien and commenced a season that was to prove as the best that he had ever had as it rendered him as the best jockey in the world. He kick started the season by bringing back the Prix
Ganay on Duke Of Marmalade. This was just the beginning as the four-year-old lucky colt for Murtagh, he became the mount for four additional Group 1 races.
The Group 1 successes included the 2008 English And Irish 2000 Guineas. By the end of the season the jockey had a staggering twenty-one Group 1 wins and it is a record that the rest of the racing fraternity envies.
Even the 2010 season found the forty-one year old immensely successful. He landed the Tattersalls Gold Cup at Curragh in May and then in June won the Coronation Cup at Epsom.
How lucky will he be for the 2012 championship title will reveal gradually.
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