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Oisin Murphy ban: Racing Debate panel discuss whether William Buick would have won title if champion jockey stuck to Covid rules

Oisin Murphy rode 11 winners during September 2020 when he should have been in quarantine after trip to Greece; Murphy beat William Buick by eight in title race that season; Murphy has been banned for Covid-19 breaches and misleading the BHA

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The Racing Debate's Matt Chapman and Sean Boyce discuss whether the Flat Jockeys' Championship title should have gone to William Buick after it emerged Oisin Murphy broke Covid-19 rules during the 2020 season.

Sky Sports Racing's Sean Boyce believes William Buick is the 'moral winner' of the Flat Jockeys' Championship after it emerged champion Oisin Murphy broke Covid-19 rules during his 2020 title-winning season.

Murphy, who on Tuesday was handed an 11-month ban from racing for breaching Covid-19 regulations, rode 11 winners in September 2020 when he should have been quarantining.

Murphy had gone to the Greek island of Mykonos, which was on the Covid red-list at the time, but he had attempted to convince officials he had been at Lake Como.

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That season, Buick would go on to finish eight winners behind Murphy in the title race, leading Buick's agent Tony Hind to tell the Racing Post this week that his client would have won "without a shadow of a doubt".

Discussing the matter with fellow Racing Debate host Matt Chapman, Boyce told Sky Sports Racing: "I think William Buick has been pretty classy in not saying anything, as you would expect.

"Murphy shouldn't have been riding for 14 days so, morally and ethically, Buick is the winner isn't he? I think the moral winner is William."

Oisin Murphy celebrates being crowned champion jockey at Ascot
Image: Murphy rode eight more winners than Buick in the 2020 season

Chapman argued: "Mathematically it's very easy to say that William Buick would have been champion jockey if Oisin Murphy had isolated.

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"But, in a close Jockeys' Championship, the trainers usually end up deciding which of those jockeys will end up as the champion.

"Those stables give the winners to a certain rider, that's why it's impossible to say. In this case, they might have given them [Oisin Murphy's rides] to William Buick. I suspect William Buick would have been champion.

"Tony Hind knows that. He's a very clever agent because he's planting the seed in every trainer and owner's mind that William Buick, from day one, is going all out to be champion jockey in 2022. This is a deliberate act and you have to read between the lines."

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PJA chairman Jon Holmes says Murphy will have their support if needed after the rider was banned for 14 months for breaching Covid-19 regulations and failing two breath tests.

Murphy, who again beat Buick in a tense championship battle last year, winning by just two, was given an additional 100-day suspension for alcohol breaches after two racecourse incidents during 2021, including failing a breathalyser test at Newmarket in October last year.

In handing its verdict on Tuesday, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) described Murphy's breaches as "extremely serious, reckless and potentially incredibly damaging for the sport".

Chapman said: "I expected him to get somewhere between six and nine months and a hefty suspended sentence, with the emphasis on him to come back when he feels he will not transgress again.

"At some stage the responsibility has to transfer from everyone else to him. Then if he fails again he just has to accept it."

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Cieren Fallon has said he doesn't feel the pressure of replacing Murphy in the role at number one rider with Qatar Racing.

Boyce also admitted to being surprised by the length of Murphy's ban, but highlighted the potential implications of his breaches of the Covid-19 rules.

"Why it is so substantial, it seems to me, is the Covid breaches and what was at stake," Boyce said.

"It was a decision to go abroad to a red-listed country at a time when that was all over the news and knowing you were supposed to isolate for 14 days, decide not to do that and then lie about it twice to officials.

"The sport was continuing on such strict terms and conditions and we were so lucky to be racing.

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"I think they've looked at that and thought he was risking not just his health and the health of his colleagues, which is serious enough, but the licence to continue racing was in the balance.

"I have no view on whether he [Murphy] is a good or bad person and I don't think you can judge anyone by the worst thing they've done but he's driven a coach and horses through some rules which could have compromised the entire sport."

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