Oisin Murphy Signs Deal to Ride for Bond Thoroughbred in 2027

Oisin Murphy has agreed to ride for Bond Thoroughbred starting in 2027. The former champion jockey, 31, signed a retained deal with the operation and will partner the best of their runners across Ireland, the United Kingdom and France. The agreement follows the end of Murphy's long-standing partnership with Qatar Racing, which concluded after a reduction in the number of their horses training in the UK.

Bond Thoroughbred is moving in the opposite direction. Charlie Bond, chief executive of the Bond International tyre group, is overseeing a significant increase in spending in 2026. The operation has spent heavily at the yearling sales this autumn, and Bond said 2027 could be a breakthrough year for the black and yellow silks first made famous by his late father, Reg.

Bond said signing Murphy is meant to show what the operation is trying to build. "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," Bond said. He added that Murphy sees the overall project in what Bond Thoroughbred is trying to achieve, and that it is exciting he wanted to be part of it.

The operation has horses with Paddy Twomey in Ireland, Christopher Head in France, and Andrew Balding in England. Bond said Murphy will 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," Bond said.

Bond said PJ McDonald remains a major part of building the operation into a force on the racecourse. "PJ can't be everywhere, but he is big part of us moving forward," Bond said. He noted that Bond Thoroughbred had 25 winners last year and 18 so far this year, and that those 18 have been competing in higher grade races.

Bond said the operation has been placed in a lot of black-type races and has 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," Bond said. "We have the right trainers and the right jockeys."