Oxx facing Kinane void
John Oxx now faces the difficult task of finding a new stable jockey to succeed Mick Kinane after the multiple Irish champion decided to call it a day.
Fran Berry, Kinane’s understudy at Currabeg stables, is tipped to fill the void, but no decision has been made yet.
“I’d prefer not to make a comment about it at the moment. It’s pretty obvious, but I haven’t spoken to my clients yet,” explained Oxx.
The unprecedented success of Sea The Stars in 2009 capped Kinane’s career and six years of formal partnership between him and the trainer.
Kinane was ending a 34-year career in the saddle and with a phenomenal amount of major victories already on his CV, the six Group One wins of Sea The Stars, including the 2000 Guineas-Derby-Arc treble, left him with virtually nothing left to achieve.
In a statement, Kinane said: “I have decided this is the right time to retire from race-riding.
“At 50 I still feel fit and sharp enough to do any horse justice but, after the season I have just had in partnership with Sea The Stars, I have the privilege of being able to end my career as a jockey on an incredible high and that’s what I want to do.
“I leave with a huge sense of gratitude to all the great horses I have ridden, all the great trainers whose genius developed those champions and everybody else in racing, from the stable lads to the owners, who have made me deeply thankful for my involvement in the game.
“Teamwork is the key to success in racing and I have been blessed with some of the best alliances a jockey could have.”
Oxx will welcome him back with open arms when he fancies a spin on the gallops.
The trainer said: “He seems very keen to keep riding. He has a couple of hunters to keep himself fit and I’m sure he will be down here to ride a bit of work.
“Someone like that, you couldn’t get a better work rider!”
Champion Irish apprentice in 1978, Kinane’s first job as a stable jockey was with Michael Kauntze in the early 1980s and his first big break came when he joined forces with Dermot Weld in 1984.
He stayed with the Rosewell House trainer until 1999 when he was appointed Aidan O’Brien’s number one at Ballydoyle, staying until the end of 2003.
He broke new ground when winning the Belmont Stakes in America for Weld on Go And Go in 1990, as well as the Melbourne Cup on the same trainer’s Vintage Crop in 1993.
“He was a world-class rider and a wonderful stable jockey in his 15 years with me, but he was much more than that,” said Weld.
Pat Smullen battled with Kinane for many years in Irish Flat racing and is now with Weld.
“Mick Kinane was probably my idol when I started riding,” said Smullen.
“He is an absolute professional and his riding set the standard, definitely in Irish racing and also in European racing.
“It has been a pleasure and an honour to have ridden against him.
“Mick has always been helpful, both in the early days and then definitely when I got the job with Dermot Weld.
“His door was always open and not only has he been a great rival, but a good friend.”
Ireland’s newly-crowned champion jockey Johnny Murtagh, the present incumbent at Ballydoyle, hailed his former weighing-room colleague’s skills in the saddle.
“He was an inspiration to me in many ways when I was growing up and when you were riding against him, you always wanted to beat him as if you beat him, you were beating the best,” said Murtagh.
