Blood-ridden boxers, battling the bottle and a big decision on the title race - five revelations from Oisin Murphy's new book

Oisin Murphy's new memoir Sacrifice is published on Thursday, a series of diary entries covering the time between March and December 2024, when he was in the process of landing his fourth jockeys' title. Here are five things we learned from reading it.

1. He had no intention of winning this year’s jockeys’ championship

Depending on which month you're reading, Murphy is either probably not going to go for the championship in 2025, still pondering whether or not to go for the championship in 2025, or definitely not going to go for the championship in 2025. The second volume of Sacrifice may cover how he won the championship in 2025.

2. He sent the BHA photos of his blood-ridden boxer shorts

When Murphy missed a racecourse breath test at Kempton, he felt so miffed that the BHA didn't believe his excuse that he'd had to go to hospital with his haemorrhoids that he sent them photographs of his bloodied boxer shorts by way of proof. The offending bottom grapes had been seeping more than usual, apparently, and the rider was having to change his Bill Grundys on a far-too-regular basis, so he went to get them looked at, which was when the confusion arose. It was a bum rap.

3. His battle with alcohol has been long and hard

If you're thinking of judging Murphy for his well-catalogued misdemeanours, bear in mind that, as the son of an alcoholic father, he has a cross to bear when it comes to drinking – one that was quite a burden in the early days of his career, especially when the winners dried up. "The more I drank the less it mattered and eventually I would pass out," he says. "I would reach for it every time I rode a horse that didn’t win, which was virtually every day. Even on the very few occasions when I did have a day of winners, I’d celebrate by having a drink or ten." He later accepts: "If the process of me drinking in order to avoid having to deal with difficult situations returns, that’ll be the end of my career. It would also be deserved and all of my own doing. There’s no question about that."

4. He has no time for prizes

Despite his burning desire to be champion jockey, there's precious little sentiment in Murphy's mind when it comes to the prize-giving. He's grateful not to have to go through the loud music and magnums of champagne that the top driver gets in F1, appreciating the greater dignity that horseracing brings to the occasion, but the pot itself isn't something that motivates him. "In fact, if they decided to melt it down and turn it into an ashtray or something it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest," he admits. "The trophy could be ten feet high and made of solid platinum but it wouldn’t make any difference." Although it might be a bit precarious on the mantelpiece.

Murphy notes he's not a man for trophies despite picking up plentyCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

5. He is tired – a lot

If there’s one overwhelming theme of the book, brought out by the diary layout, it’s Murphy’s tiredness, which gets repeated airings throughout. He’s tired in the morning, tired in the car, tired in the evening, partly because of his busy workload, his sparse diet and racing's crazy demands, but also partly because his mind refuses to switch off when he wants it to. He'll be obsessing about horses he'll soon be riding, horses he'll no longer be riding and rival jockeys who are riding too many winners for his liking, rather than getting his regulation eight hours. He's also tired of pesky journalists and racecourse stewards – but then who isn't?

PS) If you were going to read Sacrifice to find out the latest on Oisin's drink-driving altercation with a tree, don't. It isn't in there. Another for Volume 2, perhaps.

Read Peter Thomas’s full review of Sacrifice in Sunday’s Racing Post

Read more here

Oisin Murphy to release book offering a 'searingly honest' account of a year in the champion jockey's life 

'It's difficult to catch a moving target' - how Oisin Murphy’s relentless run turned the title race into a procession  

Sign up to receive On The Nose, our essential daily newsletter, from the Racing Post. Your unmissable morning feed, direct to your email inbox every morning