Oisin Murphy: 'I made mistakes and now I've worked hard to get back to where I want to be'

At what point in the piece does a serial offender become a good role model? It's a dichotomy Oisin Murphy must have pondered in the course of his lengthy battle against the booze, and it sounds as though he's still pondering, digging deep into the psyche of the drinker. The difference is that now he's doing it from the right side of the divide.

"I read recently about Richard Hughes feeling invincible when he went out the night before Royal Ascot and then won three races the next day," says the man whose own demons now sit quietly in the background, no doubt ruing their missed opportunity but still hopeful. "He felt he was riding better because of his drinking. In his own mind it made him have that edge.

"He wouldn't have been pissed. Maybe he would have passed the breathalyser. It's hard to say. He wouldn't have slept much, that's for sure, but the bottom line is that when things are going well, it's all fine, but when it's out of control, like it was for me and it became for him, then it's a problem."