Horse racing news: Oisin Murphy lands £50,000 World Pool Jockeys’ Championship at Ascot
Oisin Murphy survived a flurry of final day shocks on British Champions Day at Ascot to win the second edition of the UK & Ireland World Pool Jockeys’ Championship and has chosen to split the £50,000 prize between the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Racing Welfare, with both charities set to receive £25,000 each.
In a competition that sees jockeys awarded points based on the winner’s World Pool Win odds, Murphy finished 25.45 points clear of Jamie Spencer, while Jason Watson snuck into the top five following his surprise victory on Cicero’s Gift.
Murphy claims big prize
Upon being confirmed as the winner, Murphy said: “Firstly, thanks to World Pool for putting up the prize. It’s a privilege to be able to donate this considerable amount of money to two very important charities.
“Racing Welfare, who have had a particularly challenging time following the death of Nicki Strong, do so much for the sport, while the MND Association touches me as I have a family friend who is suffering at the moment.
“There were a couple of big-price shocks on the day, and Jamie Spencer almost snatched it from me, so it was a big relief to have held on in the end.”
Robert Pearce, head of high value partnerships at the MND Association said: “It means the world to us. It was wonderful to have this opportunity to come along today and receive the cheque on behalf of the six people who are diagnosed with MND [in the UK] every single day.
“We’re here for our community and Oisin is obviously a very big supporter of that, so we thank him and World Pool very much.
“Research is one of the key elements that we support but we also support care for people who are living with and affected by MND, and we campaign for the best treatment possible. This £25,000 will be going towards some amazing projects across those three remits.”
Dawn Goodfellow, chief executive of Racing Welfare said: “It means a huge amount to us because all of our funds are raised charitably and in the current climate our services have never been more needed.
“We couldn’t be more grateful to both Oisin and World Pool for this initiative. It’ll make a big difference to our work.
“The people that we support are the unsung heroes, the people who make this sport work, whether that’s stable staff, stud staff, people working on racecourses, or in the administration of racing.
“We help them with the whole range of life’s challenges – we have a fantastic team of welfare officers, and this money goes a long way to paying for one of those welfare officers.”
Watch the full interview here.
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Irishman tops championship standings
The final standings for the UK & Ireland World Pool Jockeys’ Championship 2025 were:
Oisin Murphy – 151.15 points, 15 wins
Jamie Spencer – 125.70 points, 1 win
Kieran Shoemark – 96.60 points, 5 wins
Richard Kingscote – 91.75 points, 2 wins
Jason Watson – 90.60 points, 1 win
Murphy becomes the second jockey to win the competition following Billy Loughnane in 2024, who donated his prize to the Christy Lambe Foundation.
For more information, visit: https://worldpool.hkjc.com/en-US/jockeys-championship-2025/
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