Oisin Murphy breaks silence on drink-drive conviction following car crash

Oisin Murphy has broken his silence over the drink-drive conviction he received in the wake of a crash in which the car he was driving hit a tree while he was over the proscribed limit of alcohol. The four-time champion Flat jockey was fined £70,000 and banned from driving for 20 months after being almost twice over the legal alcohol limit in a breath test taken nearly seven hours after his arrest.

The 29-year-old appeared at Reading magistrates court earlier in July as a result of his involvement in a serious road traffic collision in Hermitage, West Berkshire in April this year in which a grey Mercedes A Class car he was driving left the road and collided with a tree. His female passenger was injured and taken to hospital.

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Murphy pleaded guilty and later apologised on his social media account for the offence saying his actions were “unacceptable and there is no excuse for what I did.”

After Murphy completed a 14-month ban for breaking Covid rules and for two alcohol breaches in 2022, special conditions were imposed on his licence that he must ‘remain sober’.

On Friday the BHA announced that Murphy’s licence conditions had been updated to include “an extremely strict set of conditions and monitoring requirements” which must be adhered to at all times. He will not face any disciplinary action as he did not breach the rules of racing.

Speaking for the first time since the case, Murphy told Sky Sports Racing: “It’s very important not to make that error again, it was a nightmare particularly for everyone involved, not just myself, for everyone else and the people who had to pick up the pieces, my support network. Time is a great healer but I won’t be forgetting about that mistake.

He added: "I’m not the first jockey to drink and drive or commit offences, it’s obviously more high profile because it’s me. Due to the profile I have, those incidents should never occur but the BHA have been fantastic to work with and I really appreciate what they have done to help me and I want to repay them.”

Murphy said the passenger who was involved in the crash “is really well, that’s the most important thing” and spoke about the counselling he had received both before and after the accident.

He added: “I have been (in counselling) for the last four years and obviously had very good spells due to that support network and I relied on it an awful lot since late April and before it but certainly since late April and I have got to thank those people because they have gone above and beyond when the process hasn’t been very easy.”

However, Murphy criticised the coverage his case had received, saying: “There was going to be a lot said in the media and it’s important not to allow the media to bully you too much because you can get very down, but I had horses to ride and a job to do. It’s great to be riding every day and hopefully to the same level I was able to do at Royal Ascot and in the weeks previously.

He added: “Not everyone wants one to achieve, there’s a lot of jealousy out there, particularly in the media, but I worked all my life to ride good horses and I’ll continue to do that. The only thing that can inhibit me from not progressing further in my career is myself, so that’s a realisation.”