Oisin Murphy made a successful start to his comeback from a 14-month ban for alcohol and Covid breaches when he won on his first ride at Chelmsford on Thursday.
The three-time champion jockey said it was “a relatively easy job” after steering the Mick Appleby-trained 15-8 favourite over the winning line in the 6f Winning Connections Network Handicap.
The 27-year-old was riding in a race for the first time since November 2021, having been suspended at a February 2022 inquiry for misleading the BHA when he broke Covid rules by lying about his whereabouts in 2020 and failing two alcohol breath tests in 2021.
Jupiter Express was his only ride on the card as he was due to catch a flight to Qatar to ride at Doha this weekend.
“It’s fantastic to be back,” the jockey told Racing TV. “It’s been a long time but it’s brilliant to be back on the racecourse and to ride a winner as well will help.
“I’m quite fit and I really enjoyed that. Even the banter in the weighing room, I have really missed that."
Murphy had kept his fitness up during his absence by focussing on show jumping. He kept in touch with horse racing by attending Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood and had remained involved with the Andrew Balding stable who enjoyed a brilliant 2022.
"That was a brilliant motivation to come forward and a major factor in having this day as my focus for such a long period," he said.
He described his behaviour, which led to his suspension, as "very silly". He added: "I made many errors that I wish I hadn’t done and I was given a period of time to think about that and come back with a different mindset.
"Hopefully over the next year and the following years I can prove the person I’d like to be."
