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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Jon Lees

Oisin Murphy to return from 14-month ban with one ride at Chelmsford on Thursday

Oisin Murphy's 14-month absence from the saddle for breaking alcohol and Covid rules will finally end at Chelmsford on Thursday where he has one ride on the card.

The three-time champion jockey, will partner the Mick Appleby-trained Jupiter Express in the second race, the Winning Connections Networking Handicap.

Murphy secured his licence to ride last week with the BHA announcing he would have to submit to increased alcohol and drug testing after he was found to have failed two breathalyser tests.

His last ride was in November 2021 when he took time out to await a disciplinary inquiry in February at which it emerged he had also breached Covid rules by lying about his whereabouts in September 2020.

Jupiter Express is owned by The Horse Watchers syndicate, which is partly run by broadcaster Chris Dixon.

"Tom Marquand rode Jupiter Express to be second last time, but he's in Australia now so the jockey who rode him last time wasn't there and this was an opportunity for him to have a ride when he came back." said Dixon.

"Mick was always going to support him, he's ridden plenty of winners for him over the years - and us - so when a top jockey is available we are not afraid to use them. We're happy to give him his first ride back.

"He's got a decent chance. He's been freshened up since his last run as he'd been a little busy and we'd aimed at this card ever since really."

Murphy is due to ride in Qatar at the weekend to ride Flaming Rib for Hugo Palmer with trips to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain also pencilled in over the next few weeks.

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