Timmy Murphy, whose career bridged two golden eras of race-riding, insists the current crop of jump jockeys have plenty to learn and cannot be held in the same regard as many of the recent greats.Almost five years removed from a career that saw him join an elite band of jockeys to have ridden more than 1,000 winners over jumps, the Irishman refuses to believe that the modern standard of jockeyship is reaching the same heights as those who have gone before.Although a supremely talented rider, Murphy insists he has "no regrets" that he was cursed to have been the contemporary of arguably some of the most gifted practitioners in the sport's history."No, I was very lucky," he said. "Before AP McCoy and Richard Johnson, I was with Adrian Maguire and Richard Dunwoody, and that generation.
They were as good, if not better."They were the jockeys we looked up to and aspired to be as good as. That is why the generation after that were so good."The likes of AP, Norman Williamson and Richard Johnson would have 100 per cent learned from them."There were loads of talented jockeys.
Any of the top 10 were good enough to be champion jockey. I don't think the current bunch are as good."To those who never saw him in action, Murphy's peculiar greatness is not easy to describe.He had all the orderly attributes a jockey needs - courage, a cool head, strong hands, strength in a finish and tactical skill.
But above all it was his judgement of pace which singled him out from his star-studded counterparts.These days, he is an interested bystander, well placed to critique the current generation of riders."The style of racing has changed a lot," he said. "There is not a lot of race-riding going on."The pace of the racing seems to be an awful lot