Oisín Murphy snapped up for retained role with Bond Thoroughbred

Oisin Murphy can help take Bond Thoroughbred’s black and yellow silks to the next level, Charlie Bond has said, predicting 2027 could be a huge year for the operation.

The former champion jockey (31) has signed a retained deal with the rapidly-expanding operation, starting next year, and will partner the best of their runners across Ireland, the UK and France, where possible.

The news comes after Murphy and Qatar Racing announced the end of their long-standing partnership owing to the reduction in the number of their horses training in the UK.

Bond, meanwhile, are moving in the opposite direction, with Charlie Bond – chief executive of Bond International tyre group – overseeing a huge increase in spending in 2026.

With the Bond Thoroughbred operation spending big at the yearling sales this autumn, 2027 could be a breakthrough year for the black and yellow silks first made famous by Charlie’s late father, Reg.

“Signing Oisin, who is one of the best in the world, is important to show what we are trying to achieve. We have a lot good homebred mares now with top-quality pedigrees so it is not just about here and now it is about the future,” said Bond.

“He sees what we are trying to achieve and around the corner we’ve got the Maranoa Charlie’s (their Group One winner now standing at Tally-Ho Stud in Westmeath) coming through the sales.

“Oisin can see the overall project in what Bond Thoroughbred is trying to achieve. It is exciting he saw the vision of what we are trying to achieve and wanted to be a part of it.”

With Paddy Twomey in Ireland, Christopher Head in France, and Andrew Balding in England handling the bulk of their horses in training, Murphy is going to be busy in 2027.

“We have 22 two-year-olds going into training and we’ve obviously got the three-year-olds coming through so it’s going to be horses here there and everywhere,” said Bond.

“It is all a team and we’ve got the top pilots to make sure we have every chance in the top races when they are ready.”

Bond said PJ McDonald, who has been a major part of building the operation into a force on the racecourse, remains integral to the team.

“PJ can’t be everywhere, but he is big part of us moving forward. Last year we had 25 winners and this year we have had 18 so far. But those 18, we have been competing in higher grade races,” Bond added.

“We have been placed in a lot of black-type races. A lot of horses going from two to three are going be, potentially, better three-year-olds. We have come a long way in the last two to three years.

“Having got stuck into the yearling market we should be looking at trying to achieve our best year in 2027 and the signing of Oisin will see him get on board a lot of them. We have the right trainers and the right jockeys.”