Sandwiched between his stints as the No. 1 jockey for the powerful John Oxx and Aidan O’Brien stables in Ireland, Johnny Murtagh was so often the “go to” name in the jockey ranks on a global stage.
He officially retired from the saddle in 2014 to concentrate on his training career and last year marked a breakthrough year for him, with Classics success in the Irish St. Leger at The Curragh.
That victory by Sonnyboyliston helped Murtagh break into the top five trainers in Ireland in terms of prize money and now the Curragh-based handler is hoping that the improving five-year-old can provide him with a springboard back to the big time during the Saudi Cup weekend, which starts on Friday at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh.
Murtagh made his mark as a rider on multiple occasions in Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Dubai, the US and the UK, as well as his native Ireland, and has made no secret of being similarly ambitious in his pursuit of success as a trainer.
“I rode in Saudi Arabia many years ago and while I haven’t seen the grass track, it’s an absolutely beautiful dirt track there and a brilliant spot for the horses,” Murtagh said prior to arrival in the Kingdom.
“It’s great to have horses rated high enough to get into these types of races for this type of prize money and it’s a new experience for us but we want to be competing on the world stage.”
As a jockey, Murtagh regularly delivered winning runs for some of the biggest owners in the world on horses bred in the purple but his first Group 1 winner as a trainer, Champers Elysees, was a filly he picked up for $32,000 as a yearling. Sonnyboyliston was a similarly priced steal.
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Established in 2020 and organised by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Cup is a two-day international racing festival, headlined by the USD$20m The Saudi Cup – the world’s most valuable race. The meeting traditionally takes place at the end of February at the King Abdulaziz racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and total prizemoney for this year’s Saudi Cup day card, which features dirt and turf races that regularly attract the world’s highest rated racehorses, is USD$ 31.5m.
The third renewal of the festival launches on Friday February 25, 2022, with the STC International Jockeys Challenge, which sees seven female and seven male jockeys from Australia, Europe, Japan, the United States of America, as well as two local jockeys compete as individuals in four races, each worth USD$400,000. Races are open to locally trained horses only and are run over a variety of distances, ranging from a 1200m sprint to a middle-distance race over 1800m.