Has there ever been a jockey like Oisin Murphy?

We are blessed these days with a rare stream of jockey talent including the likes of William Buick, Ryan Moore, Tom Marquand and Rossa Ryan. Well clear of the pack though in the chase for the jockeys championship is former champion Oisin Murphy, and five minutes in the winners’ enclosure rather than on the track left me convinced at Newbury last Saturday that if I still had shares in a horse, Oisin would be the one I’d want riding it – and not just because of the two trebles he notched up last week.

Successful trainer Hugo Palmer wasn’t in evidence but surrounded by a gaggle of owners after the 4.10 Novice Stakes, Oisin truly earned his £162.79 rider’s fee by giving them a state-of-the-art debrief. Time was when some jockeys would accept a pat on the back, mutter ‘Nice ’orse’ and head off to the weighing room.

Not Oisin. He gave the assembled company a detailed breakdown of how the race had been run, noted he might have been on the wrong side of the track, expounded on why The Waco Kid was truly reminiscent of his sire Mehmas, discussed how much ten furlongs on firm ground suited his mount and concluded by suggesting they might want to put up a weight-claiming apprentice on the horse’s next outing to counter the penalty from his Newbury victory. You simply could not imagine a jockey providing better value.

The Newbury card featured the Weatherbys Super Sprint, a brilliant concept which has now been running for 33 years offering the winner £129,000 and decent prize money down to tenth place.

The handicap weights are based not on previous track performance but on the price paid for the horse below £65,000 as a yearling or two-year-old at public auction.