Declan Murphy: ‘When I woke up, I had no memory of my life as a jockey’

The former jump jockey reveals how he pieced together his missing years – and what it cost his friends and family

The moment that changed Declan Murphy’s life for ever arrived when he was 28. It was in 1994 at a May bank holiday meeting at Haydock Park, and Murphy, a celebrated jump jockey, was at the pinnacle of his career, riding Arcot, the favourite in the Swinton Hurdle. Heading into the last hurdle, the pair misjudged their stride and fell. While Murphy lay unconscious on the ground another horse galloped over him, one hoof hitting his head and shattering his skull in 12 places. It was an injury so severe that within days the Racing Post would run his obituary under the stark headline: “Declan Murphy dies in horror fall.”

Twenty-plus years would pass before Murphy, who spent four days in a medically induced coma and came within hours of having the life support machine switched off, felt up to revisiting his ghosts. The result, Centaur, written with Ami Rao, is not only a certain candidate for the William Hill sports book of the year but also sure to be on many non-sports fans’ end-of-year lists. Emotional and honest, Centaur is an unflinching look at how Murphy “came back from the dead” and the heavy price extracted for doing so.

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