SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Cyril Murphy saddled McTigue, his100th winner, to win the inaugural 2 3/8-mile G1, $150,000 Leo O’Brien steeplechase handicap in track record time.

McTigue, left, outduels Rocket One to win the Leo O'Brien (Photo by Tod Marks)The final time of 4:30.45 was more than a full second faster than the previous record of 4:31.57 set in 2014 by subsequent G1 winner All the Way Jose, bred and trained by Jonathan Sheppard, who had set it in an allowance win by 14 1/4 lengths.

In the O'Brien, McTique settled in the back as Take Your Seats opened a 15 length lead, moved up gradually to third on the final  turn, caught Rocket One, trained by Jack Fisher, in the stretch, and went on to win by 1 length.

St. James the Great, trained by Keri Brion was third, another 12 1/2 lengths back.

 

“HE RAN great,” Murphy said. “He got a lovely ride from Graham and had a nice position. I mean, initially we talked about that it would be nice to sit forward, but Graham was going to have the freedom to do what the race said he should. He took his time, jumped great, traveled strong, and filled them up all the way around that last bend. It was a case of: if he got out what would happen?”

Watters said the patient ride was key with McTigue.

“You ride them like that, with confidence, and he either finishes or he doesn’t,” he said. “There is not much you can do about it; all you can do is hope for the best. He went down inside, saved ground, saved energy, and I gave him every opportunity to finish like he did. I met a bit of traffic turning in and I had to switch wide. My initial plan was to go down to the inside, but it just never opened up, so it cost me a length or two, but in the end Rocket One got to the front at the furlong pole and actually idled, so that helped me.”

"I think what was a big advantage to us today with regards to the second horse was we had an eight-pound pull in the weights from the last day,” he said. “We only carried two pounds less the last day, we carried eight pounds today, and it was the difference in the end.”

This was Murphy's 100th sanctioned win as a trainer after having won nearly 90 races as a jockey, 76 in this country plus another 13 in Ireland.

"I got great satisfaction from riding, especially in this country as you're more involved with day to day gallops, but I think more from training," said Murphy. "All the preparation is up to me."

There are so few steeplechase races compared to flat races that 100 wins is a significant number.

"We bought McTigue privately in 2023," sad Murphy. "I'd been interested in him, then he won a nice graded race in France and I put out feelers to see if they were interested in selling. We brought hm over to this country in early 2023. He won the Kiser Novice Stakes then ran third in the Sheppard as the high weight, but he came away win a suspensory."

"We gave him time," said Murphy. "We ran him in a flat race at a point-to-point in the spring of 2025, but he re-aggravated the suspensory, so we had to stop again."

"Yesterday everything broke for him."

The O’Brien was the second consecutive runner-up effort in a G1 for Rocket One, ridden by Jamie Bargary.

“It’s tough for the horse, he didn’t deserve to lose,” Bargary said. “We've done everything right through the race and I was hoping the leader would take me a little further up the straight and he didn’t. I hit the front between wings of the last and it was still probably half a furlong too soon. He’s a horse that needs to come with a run on the line and unfortunately the one in front stopped really quick. He’s ran his heart out, though.

Murphy said McTigue might run next in the A.P. Smithwick Memorial on Aug. 5 or the Jonathan Sheppard Memorial on Sept. 2, both with a $150,000 purse and at this same distance.

“It’s always a possibility, timing wise,” Murphy said. “We’ll bring him home, we’ll see. He’s had that significant time off in the past, so it’s always something we’ve got to be guarded about is how he comes out of it. And that determines if we don’t make the Smithwick, maybe we’d be back for the Sheppard. So, there are opportunities.”

"The track record indicated that the turf was firm." said Murphy. "t might be more realistic to give him the extra time and look at the Sheppard."

The Leo O’Brien was inaugurated this year and named for the legendary trainer of New York-bred millionaires Fourstardave, Fourstars Allstar and Irish Linnet.

O’Brien, a steeplechase jockey from 1964-76, passed away in January following a lengthy battle with Lewy Body Dementia at the age of 85.