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Yes, pressure gets to everyone from time to time and to some more than others. But isn’t it a good thing if the Champion Jockey admits to pressure getting to him? Could even say a good example for other jockeys feeling the pressure.
Value Is EverythingI think we’re going to see those at the top of their sport continue to acknowledge the mental toll of the pressure more. Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles are some other high-profile recent examples.
I don’t see admitting it exists as being a weakness, but anyone who wants career longevity is going to need to find better ways to cope with it than Oisin has recently.
Perhaps admitting to the pressure is the first step in changing how Oisin copes with it, Marlingford.
Value Is EverythingHow many more incidents and stupid lies from him???
He really needs decent help…. long-term.
I think, the first thing to do, is to step away from racing. The entourage in this sport clearly, doesn’t suit him and it does him no favours.Proactive decision to take to get a handle on it before it gets a handle on him but he will have to realise this is not something that will be cured and he can just go on his merry way, it will be something he will likely tussle with for the rest of his life – in any case, wish him all the best that he can get to a place where he can keep it under control.
He’s made the right decision and I genuinely hope he gets the help he needs and we’ll see him back in the saddle, but only when he’s ready.
Really top notch jockey
No idea whats happening with him. Hope and trust he can sort
I wish him the best
For me the most exciting jocks are Holly and James Doyle
Two consumate professionals. Have no doubt Holly will be champ one day
But back to topic. Oisin. Best pair of hands in the game
Love to watch him make hard tactical races look easy
His welfare is the main thing and I genuinely wish him well. He is a talented rider and potentially has plenty of good years ahead of him.
I was not really surprised when I heard the news last night. I remember seeing him interviewed on Racing TV at Chelmsford City about two days before the end of the season. He looked terrible and it was clear he was not enjoying it one little bit.
I think it affected his riding – he got beaten on a short priced favourite at Goodwood a few days before which I am convinced he would have hacked up on if his mind was settled.
He needs to surround himself with supportive people and the sort of entourage an elite level sportsman requires. Looking at some of the pictures I have seen, with the best will in the world I am not convinced that has been the case up to now.
Murphy is quite young to directly and publically address his problems like this. Alcoholics are all liars, he has done brilliantly to truthfully come out like this. I speak from experience – it was many years too late that I addressed my alcoholism honestly, and far too late to stop my life being hugely and (to a large extent) irrepairably damaged.
I must presume he is a young bloke of some fortitude, and is receiving some excellent advice that he is smart and brave enough to listen to.
Best wishes Oisin.
BUY THE SUN
I really hope he can turn his life around , I stated in the summer there was an issue there and sadly I was correct , Id say he needs to have a good look at the people around him , people pretending there,s no issue there or hangers on aren’t what he needs just now
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
“Or worse case scenario … Pat Eddery.”
Jem Snowden (1843-1888)
…was a heavy drinker, who followed on from Bill Scott as the heaviest drinker in the north. Sometimes, he was barely able to hold the reins of his horse, and needed other jockeys to prop him up.
Once, he turned up for Chester Races a week late. Another time, at Catterick, he demanded that the hood and blinkers with which his horse Aragon was being fitted be removed, as a “bleend horse and bleend jockey winnet dee [a blind horse and a blind jockey will not do]”. The horse won, with a drunk jockey, but without headgear.
On yet another occasion, he was instructed not to win a selling race by more than a neck, so that connections could buy the horse back cheaply. He won by six lengths, and told an intermediary, “thou tell him he ought to think himself lucky to win at all, as I saw five winning posts and didn’t know which was the right one!”
Despite this alcoholism, many of his trainers thought he was a better rider drunk than most of his contemporaries were sober, as the drink did not diminish his courage in the saddle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jem_Snowden
Those were the days.
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