Lorcan Murtagh

The last twelve months have been a tougher chapter, though. Murtagh has managed just 1 winner from 46 rides this season — roughly 1 in every 46 races — compared to 1 in every 25 the year before. That kind of dip isn't unusual for young riders; the weighing room is full of jockeys who go through lean spells before clicking back into form. But it does mean every winner right now feels like hard-won currency.

His most regular working relationship is with trainer Nigel Hawke, who has put him up 25 times. That's a meaningful vote of confidence from a trainer — you don't keep booking a jockey for 25 rides unless you believe in them. Together they've produced 1 winner from those 25 races, which works out to winning 4% of the time, or roughly 1 in every 25. That's actually a better rate than Murtagh's overall season average, suggesting Hawke's yard is one of his stronger footholds right now.

He has also ridden Speiriuil eleven times, making it one of the more notable horse-and-rider combinations on his record. One win from eleven races together isn't a dominant partnership by any measure, but the fact that they keep coming back to each other suggests there's something the team values in how Murtagh handles that particular horse. On normal ground conditions, he records 1 win from 30 races — a 3% rate — which is where the bulk of his opportunities seem to come.

At 2% for the season, the numbers are modest. But context matters: Murtagh is four years in, still learning, still getting rides, and still picking up winners. The jockeys who make it through the difficult stretches without losing their confidence or their bookings tend to be the ones worth watching when the form turns.