Johnny Murtagh

The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby was always special for me and I have been very lucky to win it four times as a jockey.

Sinndar was the first in 2000, and he was completing the double after winning at Epsom. You treasure that as your first.

I have to say, it was probably the most nervous I ever was the night before. I didn’t really get nervous as a jockey but I was thinking, ‘If he doesn’t perform here, people might say he was a lucky winner at Epsom or he wasn’t good enough.’

It was only up the road of course, so you wanted to do well. There was a million bonus that year as well if you won the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby. So there was a bit of pressure on.

He looked in a bit of trouble coming down the hill but he was a great stayer and he won by nine lengths.

Fame And Glory won by five lengths in 2009. The ground was a bit slow so John Oxx, who I rode two Derby winners for, didn’t run Sea The Stars and we won pretty easy.

The following year, I rode Cape Blanco for Aidan O’Brien again. I rang up to say I’d really like to ride the Galileo. He said, “Which one? They’re all Galileo!” I said, “I really want to ride Midas Touch.” He said, “No, no, no, you ride Cape Blanco.”

I said, “Are you sure?” He said, “If you wanna win the Derby, you ride Cape Blanco.” So I said I’d think about it and ring him back.

I rang him back after an hour and said, “Are you sure Aidan? ‘Cos that other fella is working really well.” He said, “Listen. Ride Cape Blanco.” So I rode Cape Blanco and he won. Midas Touch was second.

The most memorable one for me was probably Alamshar in 2003, against Dalakhani. The Aga Khan ran his two horses that day. I was struggling that year. I got an injury in Ascot and was only riding on and off.

When I won that race, I gave a victory salute passing the line. People said afterwards I was milking it and maybe I was but at that time I was thinking that maybe I wouldn’t be there again. Thankfully I got over that injury and there were plenty other good days but I didn’t feel that might be the way at the time.

It was a great battle with Dalakhani up the length of the straight and it was a special day, the second colours of the Aga Khan beating the first colours. Christophe Soumillon was the Aga Khan’s jockey in France, I was in Ireland. I felt I was riding for Ireland that day and there was no way Soumillon was going to come out in top on my home turf.

We were in Ascot last week and Royal Ascot is a huge week for English racing. Irish Derby weekend is our biggest weekend I feel. You have the Juddmonte Pretty Polly Stakes on the Friday, the Derby on Saturday. All the best horses run and as a trainer, you want to have a runner during the Irish Derby weekend. That’s where you wanna be, having runners, riding or training winners. It’s the weekend during which you need to be performing.

Dubai Duty Free is a worldwide name and it’s great to have them backing the three days of racing. They are more than just a racing sponsor. They organise and support all the other events around it. There’s huge investment and they deserve every bit of publicity they can get. We’re thankful that they are on board.

This year, I really do hope Kevin Prendergast can do it with Madhmoon. Kevin is nearly 87 but he has such positivity. He doesn’t realise he’s 87, he thinks he’s 57!

You should see him at the gallops, sprinting by you. He’s telling you your jockey went too soon on yours last week. He knows what everybody else’s horses are doing!

My string were up the other day and one horse went well. He said, “What’s that?” I said, “That’s an unraced two-year-old.” I met him two days later and he said, “That’s not an unraced two-year-old, I found out that lad’s name!”

He’s the king of the Curragh. He trains alongside me. It didn’t happen in Epsom but hopefully Saturday can be his day and there’s no-one more deserving.

Broome and Anthony Van Dyck are the number ones for Ballydoyle. It’s going to be tough. It’ll be a staying race with no hiding place, but I was very impressed with Kevin’s horse last year when he won in Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend. I thought he was the best two-year-old last year.

He ran very well in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket to be a staying-on fourth even though he was on the wrong side. Chris Hayes told me after the race he wants a mile and a half.

He’s going to have to ride him well. He’s going to have to ride him quiet. It’s going to be four or five against one, but if he gets a bit of luck in running - I’m not going to say he’ll win but he should be there or thereabouts and he just might have a little more turn of foot than the others.

I think Pink Dogwood will be hard to beat in the Pretty Polly. She was a bit unlucky in Epsom when she was just caught but I think she’s pretty good.

Now that I am training, I haven’t had a horse good enough to run in the Irish Derby yet but I love having runners during the festival. Urban Beat will hopefully take his chance in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship Dash Stakes and we will have a couple of others too maybe on Friday and Saturday.

It is certainly a weekend to look forward to and enjoy.