Oisín Murphy felt like he had a point to prove this season, and the Kerry rider is making good on his promise with one hand already on a third British champion jockeys’ crown in succession after bolting home 16 winners over the past week.

The Killarney native has never hidden his desire to be crowned Britain’s finest rider on “multiple occasions”, and he has been in a sensational vein of form having edged towards another century of winners.

The 25-year-old clearly has the bit between his teeth with a sole winner at Windsor last Monday sparking a purple patch, highlighted by a five-timer at Kempton on Wednesday and trebles at Brighton (Thursday) and Newmarket (Saturday).

“I’m always thinking about the jockeys’ championship. You can’t reflect on what’s happened because you’re always thinking about the next day,” Murphy said of his extraordinary 40pc strike rate last week.

Murphy drew breath yesterday having ridden a winner every day last week to bring his tally to 93 at this early juncture, but he won’t be resting on his laurels as he returns to the saddle today with four rides at Lingfield, having opened up an advantage of 16 winners over his nearest pursuer.

William Buick, as well as the high-flying Tom Marquand, have plenty of ground to make up, but opportunity knocks this weekend with Murphy serving a two-day whip suspension on Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, Galway native David Loughnane is anything but despondent having watched stable star Go Bears Go finish a creditable third in Sunday’s Group One Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

The Group Two Railway Stakes winner had to make do with minor honours behind fellow British raider Ebro River, but the Shropshire-based trainer believes the best is yet to come, with either the Prix Morny or the Gimcrack Stakes up next for the Kodi Bear colt.

“He’s done nothing wrong and lost nothing in defeat. I think we learnt a number of things on the day. Firstly, six weeks is just too long for him between his runs, he seems to appreciate a bit more racing,” an optimistic Loughnane said.

“Secondly, we had slight concerns about the ground. He won on soft ground first time out, but he’s just a better horse on a quick surface. He was also drawn out on a wing on his own a little bit and was kind of in no-man’s-land for part of the race.

“At the end of the day, he was beaten a length on his first start in a Group One, so you couldn’t be disappointed. He’s a Group One horse, whether he won yesterday or not.

“Yesterday wasn’t our day, but I have no doubt in my mind we’ll be winning a Group One very soon with him. There’s the Prix Morny at Deauville in a couple of weeks’ time, and the Gimcrack in York is also an option. It will all depend on where the quicker ground is.”