Top British jockey Oisin Murphy is charged with drunk driving

Jockey Oisin Murphy was charged with drunk driving related to an accident in April. Murphy is a four-time British flat-racing champion jockey.

Murphy was charged June 19 with one count of driving a motor vehicle while over the limit of alcohol and one charge of failing to cooperate with a roadside test, according to a Thursday news release from the Thames Valley police department. Murphy has a hearing in Reading magistrates' court Thursday. The charges previously were reported by Matt Rennie of Racing Post.

The accident happened April 27. Murphy missed four rides at Southwell because of "travel issues" that day, according to a British Horseracing Authority stewards' report. He rode the next day at Windsor.

Murphy did not ride between November 2021 and February 2023 after a series of five charges from the British Horseracing Authority. Those charges included a pair of failures to follow COVID rules in 2020, two failed alcohol tests in 2021 and one charge of "acting in a manner which is prejudicial to the proper integrity, conduct and good reputation of the sport."

He has gotten his career back on track since. Murphy rode Mawj to victory in the Group 1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket in May 2023 and came to Keeneland to win the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) with her later that year. 

Murphy has five mounts at Doncaster on Friday and six at York on Saturday. He frequently rides for trainer Andrew Balding and is the retained rider for owner Qatar Racing.