Murphy goes head-to-head with Loughnane on Guineas weekend in jockeys’ title race

A little over a month after the Brocklesby at Doncaster launched the new season on turf, the Flat jockeys’ championship will finally be off and running at Newmarket on Saturday. For the first time since Oisin Murphy and William Buick took the race all the way to Champions Day in October 2021, there is a genuine chance of a contest that extends beyond the end of July.

It has the potential to be a historic contest too, and the bookies cannot agree on a favourite in what is likely to be a straight head-to-head between 20-year-old Billy Loughnane - who would be the youngest champion for more than a century - and Murphy, the reigning champion, looking to join Kieren Fallon as a six-time winner.

Murphy was an easy victor with a total of 143 winners last season, and while Loughnane was the only other rider to reach three figures, he was a long way adrift on 108. On that basis, punters might expect Murphy to be a heavy favourite, but at lunchtime on Monday, it was possible to back Murphy at 11-10 with Ladbrokes, and Loughnane at 6-4 with William Hill – an 88% book in a contest for which Rossa Ryan, at 16-1, is the only other runner shorter than 25-1.

Neither firm, of course, will be laying four-figure bets, but a market with such a clear difference of opinion between odds-setters is still a rarity in these days of online odds-comparison sites and arb-hunting bots, and a clear sign of how close this year’s championship race could be.

The title race will play out across 24 weeks, with just four days in 169 when there is not at least one Flat meeting in Britain. All four of those blank days are Sundays, when both Loughnane and Murphy will probably be needed abroad. Any rider with hopes of mounting a serious title challenge, in other words, is unlikely to get more than a day or two off all summer. And the race could still come down to the narrowest of margins: a head-bobber here, or a one-day ban there, that could ultimately make all the difference.

Or, perhaps, who wants it more – a thought that may also contribute to Loughnane’s prominence in the betting. The 20-year-old was hailed as a generational talent almost from the moment he rode his first winner, at 16, in late 2022. He was the Champion Apprentice in 2023, tore through his allowance in near-record time, and has never shied away from admitting he is determined to win the senior title too.

Most young jockeys want to be the champion, of course, but only a handful ever get within hailing distance of the top 10, never mind the top.

Loughnane, though, has always had such a sense of relentless momentum about his rise that it was hard to see him end up anywhere else. It was more a case of when and not if, and the fact that he will be aboard Bow Echo, the likely favourite, in Saturday’s 2,000 Guineas feels almost scripted.

In terms of their innate and rarefied ability in the saddle, there is little or nothing to choose between Murphy and Loughnane. But even a generational talent needs to be honed, and relationships with trainers and owners need to be forged and maintained, to increase the overall quality of rides.