O’Donoghue favourite ‘by default’

Colm O’Donoghue is the new favourite to become Coolmore’s number one jockey after Christophe Soumillon ruled himself out of the job.

The Belgian-born rider had been all the rage for the coveted post vacated by Johnny Murtagh, but has now signed a new deal to ride for the Wildenstein family in France.

O’Donoghue has been based with Coolmore’s principal trainer Aidan O’Brien for 13 years and William Hill believe he is the most likely candidate to step up and take the top role, making him the 2-1 favourite.

With Murtagh signing up to become the new retained rider for the Aga Khan’s Irish-trained horses, of which John Oxx trains 90, Oxx’s stable jockey Fran Berry has effectively found himself out of a job.

He is William Hill’s second-favourite to effectively swap seats with Murtagh at 5-1.

The bookmaker’s spokesman, Tony Kenny, said: “The hallowed halls of Ballydoyle are battened down again without a sniff as to who is going to land the coveted job.

“Colm O’Donoghue – now favourite by default following the ruling out of Soumillon – is the likeliest appointment.

“But it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Ballydoyle could instead just choose to use the best jockey available, which could lead to a lot of jostling among the upper ranks.”

Next Ballydoyle Jockey, William Hill bet: 2-1 Colm O’Donoghue, 5-1 Fran Berry, 6-1 Jamie Spencer, Kieren Fallon, Tom Queally, 8-1 Olivier Peslier, 10-1 Jimmy Fortune, Ryan Moore, Julien Leparoux, Declan McDonogh, Seamus Heffernan, 12-1 Joseph O’Brien, 16-1 Richard Hughes, Steven Arnold, William Buick, 20-1 bar.

* Following an inspection of the inside course at Fairyhouse, the meeting scheduled for December 2 has been cancelled.

The fixtures on November 27 and November 28 will be run on the main course and are unaffected.