A magic month for Murtagh

IT seems as if every time you look up at the screen these days, a Johnny Murtagh-trained horse is either winning or going close.

Here are the stats. There were nine flat racing days between Monday, June 15th and Wednesday, June 24th, and Johnny Murtagh had runners on eight of them, 29 in total.

Of those 29 runners, 11 of them won. That’s a strike rate of 38%. And if you had had €1 on all his runners during that period, you would be showing a net profit of €36.16.

They haven’t been massive prices. None of the winners were sent off at greater than 10/1. Conversely, he had six runners during that period who were sent off at 100/30 or shorter, and five of them won.

He had 18 runners sent off at 15/2 or shorter, nine of them won and four of them finished second. Only five finished outside the first two.

Also, the 11 winners were ridden by four different jockeys: Ben Coen (5), Shane Kelly (3), Gary Halpin (2) and Danny Sheehy (1), while Nikita Kane went very close on Trueba at Gowran Park last Wednesday, and she went close again on Lord Rapscallion at Leopardstown on Sunday. Four of those five riders can still claim. Opportunities abound.

Most exciting of the 11 winners? Maybe Mirann, who appeared to win with more than the half-length winning margin in hand under Ben Coen at Gowran Park last Wednesday, from Lethal Power, formerly trained by Murtagh, with the pair of them nicely clear.

Winner of a maiden over a mile and a half in France for Alain de Royer-Dupre last July, you couldn’t have hoped for better from the Motivator gelding on his debut for his new trainer.

The handicapper raised him by 12lb for that, which was not an insignificant hike, but he could still be better than his new mark of 98.

Strange look to Irish Derby

IT’S a strange-look Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby all right. No Epsom Derby winner, no Prix du Jockey Club winner – not that we have had one of them in a while – and the market headed by the Queen’s Vase winner.

In a normal season, of course, by the time the Irish Derby rolls around, we have a lot more evidence about most of the horses.

This year, late June and we are still learning about the three-year-olds. Only one of the 15 Irish Derby runners has run more than once this season. Consequently, it’s a more open-looking race than it usually is, so don’t be surprised by a surprise result.