Murphy lauds Alexander as she closes in on Carberry’s record

The quietly-spoken 21-year-old has amassed 38 winners this season, one shy of the all-time record of 39 for female jump jockeys that the brilliant Nina Carberry set three seasons ago in her native Ireland.

Alexander, who has formed a great alliance with North Yorkshire trainer Ferdy Murphy, has two chances to equal Carberry’s record at Market Rasen – provided she gains approval from the doctor having being stood down at Perth yesterday after being kicked in the back following a heavy fall which forced her to miss a ride on the victorious Rossini’s Dancer.

However there will be little time for Alexander, or McCoy for that matter, to dwell upon their successes – ridiculously, the 2012-13 season begins tomorrow, weather permitting, at Wetherby and Ludlow.

It is a nonsensical piece of planning, says Murphy, that needs to be revised so horse racing can pay proper tribute to its champions.

McCoy, 37, will not even be at Sandown, today’s main meeting and traditional finale to the jumps season, to collect his title – he is at the Punchestown Festival.

“It is scandalous,” said Murphy. “It’s pure greed on the part of the racecourses. There needs to be a six-week break between the end of one season and the start of the next one. Like there used to be. The sport seems more bothered about the lager louts who go summer racing.

“The best way to help our riders to get better is to give them a proper break. It will only happen if we close jump racing down for six weeks.”

Though this season has yielded just 23 winners for Murphy, his lowest return since 1996-97 when McCoy was winning the second of his titles, it is the blossoming of Alexander, the Scot with nerves of steel, that has helped to offset a disappointing campaign for Wynbury Stables.

If she had switched to the professional ranks when the 2011-12 jumps season began last April, rather than waiting until the autumn, Alexander would be on the brink of becoming champion conditional jockey ahead of Yorkshire-born rider Henry Brooke, who virtually secured the title with a win of his own at Perth yesterday.

However, the horsewoman’s victories earlier in the season as an amateur do not count in the title race which determines the best young jump jockey – male or female – and which was won by McCoy in 1994-95.

Already Alexander has made history – she beat Lorna Vincent’s longstanding British record of 22 wins in a season in early February.

Her big race triumphs this season include Castleford Chase glory at Wetherby aboard Murphy’s durable Charingworth.

“It is amazing, with racing needing publicity, that no one has picked up on how close Lucy is to breaking Nina Carberry’s record, and many of Nina’s wins will have been NH Bumpers on the flat,” said Murphy.

“If they did, every little Pony Club girl, aged 13 or 14, will want to go racing. And you know what it is like when a blue-eyed daughter says she wants to do something – mum and dad have no choice. Lucy is only going to get better and a lot more trainers will use her next season; there’s no reason why she can’t be champion conditional.”

The West Witton trainer cites Alexander’s win on Papamoa for her father Nick in Perth’s three-mile chase on Thursday.

Off the bridle at the first fence in stamina-sapping ground, she kept pushing the seven-year-old. Still eight lengths down at the last, she overhauled the frontrunners on the winning line because of her strength.

Murphy puts Alexander’s success down to her upbringing – and how she, and her younger brother, used to build mini racecourses on their parents’ Fife farm. “They would have jumps, starting line, winning post, grandstands. They’d create it – and then the family would have watched. I guess that there was quite a rivalry,” he explained.

“Why is she doing so well? Determination, ability, fitness and being professional. She’s got one life – and that’s racing. It’s no good coming into the paddock to get your instructions from the trainer. You have to be aware of the opposition. You need race awareness – and she has it.”

It is a measure of Alexander’s confidence that she was not fazed at Ayr last week when she was reunited with De Boitron, who she partnered at the Cheltenham Festival.

The one piece of advice from connections was “just beat AP” – a reference to McCoy who was riding Murphy’s supposed first string Divers in the same race.

She did, finishing second on De Boitron and only being denied victory because of a riding masterclass from Ruby Walsh – now brother-in-law to the aforementioned Carberry – on the highly-rated The Knoxs.

“Whatever happens, Lucy’s season has been more impressive than Nina Carberry’s record because virtually every winner has been done the hard way over jumps – and against professionals – while Bumpers in Ireland are mainly restricted to amateur riders,” added Murphy.