Timmy Murphy has had a pretty turbulent career by anybody’s standards but it’s not all doom and gloom. And if his metamorphic change over the last few years is anything to go by then it appears a leopard really change it’s spots!

Born 20 August 1974 in County Kildare, Ireland, Murphy is most famous for his victory in the 2008 Grand National on Comply or Die. In that race, he won by four lengths on the David Pipe-trained horse and in the process gave punters a ‘national victory’ as bookmakers faced multimillion pound payouts following a last minute surge in betting on Comply or Die.

His father was a former leading Irish amateur so it came as no surprise when he showed enthusiasm for the sport by working weekends for Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer Noel Chance while still a schoolboy. After a spell under the supervision of Limerick trainer Michael Hourigan, Murphy moved over to the UK to work at Kim Bailey’s yard in the Cotswolds but it was here that the trouble started when he was dismissed for poor time keeping.

Off he went to Paul Nicholls stables but sadly, didn’t fair any better there when lost his job twice and landed himself with two drink-driving convictions. He was also banned for 30 days for persistent whip offences, which meant that he missed out on potentially riding a winner in the 1997 King George VI. One would think this would be rock bottom but not so in Murphy’s case because his ultimate low didn’t come about until 2002 when he was given a six month prison sentence for indecent assault after a drink-fuelled incident on a plane. Thankfully he left prison a changed man, teetotal ever since and has gone on to great things.

When Tony McCoy left champion trainer Martin Pipe in 2004, Murphy became the retained jockey to Pipe’s leading owner, David Johnson. It was therefore a fitting re-launch to Murphy’s career that it was Johnson’s horse Comply or Die that he brought to victory at the Grand National. Anybody else see the irony in Murphy riding a horse called ‘Comply or Die’??

If you want to back a potential Grand National runner for 2010 and like the ante-post odds being offered then just get yourself to Paddy Power for all the options…