Shaun Murphy

Shaun Murphy

Article by Alan Trout

Shaun Murphy rode eight winners over jumps in an 18-month spell, all of them trained by Albert Davison, for whom he rode as a conditional jockey. 

His first victory was at Folkestone on January 6, 1989, when the six-year-old Jim Bowie led virtually the whole way to land the Peasmarsh Conditional Jockeys’ Selling Handicap Hurdle by eight lengths. This was a vast improvement on Shaun’s first ride on the gelding, which had also been his first under National Hunt rules, as Jim Bowie had run out when tailed off at Fontwell back on September 9, 1987. 

Following their Folkestone success it looked like Jim Bowie would win for Shaun again at Kempton next time out but he fell two from home when leading. Dean Gallagher then took over in the saddle. 

Shaun had two more wins before the end of the season, and then won five races in the 1989/90 campaign, two of them on the four-year-old hurdler Chasmarella. 

His final success came at Fontwell Park on May 28, 1990, when Miss Ark Royal led all the way to beat five others in the Drayton Selling Handicap Hurdle, the five-year-old finishing seven lengths clear. 

Shaun Murphy’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Jim Bowie, Folkestone, January 6, 1989

2. Stone Madness, Fontwell Park, April 11, 1989

3. Chasmarella, Fontwell Park, May 29, 1989

4. Ribokeyes Boy, Kempton Park, November 2, 1989

5. Chasmarella, Chepstow, December 2, 1989

6. Chasmarella, Folkestone, December 9, 1989

7. Stellajoe, Lingfield Park, February 19, 1990

8. Miss Ark Royal, Fontwell Park, May 28, 1990