Aidan O'Brien is a trainer any jockey would give their left arm to ride for. Of course they'd need their left arm to ride but you get my drift. Johnny Murtagh, arms intact, is the Master of Ballydoyle's current top man.
O'Brien's unprecedented success in Group races last season was breathtaking and worthy of all the plaudits that followed. At the back of all those triumphs was Murtagh. Everything the County Meath rider touched turned to gold. Granted he was riding some of the best horses in the world but they still need to be nursed and pointed in the right direction.
Murtagh and the aura of invincibility that emmanated off him last year is somewhat absent of late. He had a meeting to forget at Chester and his decision to ride Rip Van Winkle in the Derby was questioned by many in the racing know. In the end it didn't matter what Murtagh rode as Sea The Stars became the first horse since Nashwan to win the Guineas and Derby in the one season.
Ballydoyle's top jockey received a lot of criticism for his riding of and tactics on Frozen Fire in the Ormonde Stakes. Though he indicated he was just following the bosses orders it was an incredible sight to see Murtagh coming home last behind Buccellati in what was a farce of a race.
Unfortunately for Murtagh, it was not the last time he would tangle with Buccellati and come out at the wrong end. On Wednesday his attempts to overturn a five-day suspension he picked up at Epsom fell on deaf ears. The ban came about after Murtagh and his mount Frozen Fire were found to have interfered with Buccellati and William Buick in the Group One Investec Coronation Cup on Oaks day.
The five-day ban rules Murtagh out of the last two days of Royal Ascot, a meeting at which he has been top jockey three times in the past eight years. Murtagh will miss out on rides such as Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Again as well as Lily Langtry [Albany Stakes, Friday] and Bushranger [Golden Jubilee, Saturday].
Murtagh has consistently graced the racing scene all over the world for many years now and his treatment by the BHA is bordering on ridiculous. His confidence must be at a low ebb but whether or not he has lost his magic touch is not up for debate. For his own sake I hope he does enough over the opening three days of the royal meeting to silence the doubters.