He’s been mopping up champion jockey titles ever since he got his licence in 2013, and seasoned observers say he should soon be recognised as an elite-level rider with a big future on the international stage. Yet you’ve probably never heard of him.
Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, you see, is perhaps the best kept secret in European racing.
The 28-year-old heralds from Almaty, the biggest city in Kazakhstan, but he rides now in Germany, where he is about to claim his third jockeys’ championship in as many seasons - he has 110 victories this year, nearly double that of second-placed Andrasch Starke on 58.
Murzabayev may be big news among German race fans, but not anywhere else. He rode a big winner at Chantilly in France on October 9, but his name had racegoers scratching their heads.
I spoke with a few after his victory aboard Lord Charming in the listed Prix Le Fabuleux for Arc-winning trainer Peter Schiergen. Not one of them knew anything about him.
There was one person at the track that day who was very aware of Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, however. German owner Guido Schmitt was at the meeting to watch his own horse, Kabir, run a respectable third in a later race. “Bauyrzhan is streets ahead of the other jockeys in Germany,” he said. “[He has] tremendous strength and will to win, which gives him several lengths’ advantage over his rivals in races. He could be a jockey for the Aga Khan some day.”
Murzabayev has been stable jockey to Cologne-based Schiergen since February, having spent the previous three seasons with another leading German trainer, Andreas Wohler, at Ravensberg in the south of the country.
The deal was signed a year ago, shortly after Murzabayev won the G2 Oleander-Rennen at Hoppergarten on the Schiergen-trained Quian.
“We tried to get Bauyrzhan a year before, but at that time he became leading stable jockey with Andreas Wohler,” said Schiergen (photo: Mark Ruhl/Deutscher Galopp), whose Arc win came with Danedream in 2011. “Last autumn we tried again to get him and were successful.
“We have had a very good year. Bauyrzhan and I work really well together, with Group 2 and 3 winners in Germany and the listed win at Chantilly.”
Murzabayev has won his third German title easily, with many winners for outside stables. “He is very professional in everything he does and a good horseman,” said Schiergen.
It's a far cry from his early days in Kazakhstan.
“As a child, the family had one or two racehorses, which initially created my interest in the sport,” said Murzabayev. “When still a young boy, I rode in traditional Kazakhstan gallop and endurance races, usually for boys aged between 12 and 13, and when my weight became too high for these, I obtained my Kazakhstan apprentice licence in 2007.”
His career as a jockey started to take off when he was awarded a licence to ride in Czechia (the Czech Republic) from 2012. Four years later he had become Czech champion for the third time, with 42 wins, which included the Czech 2000 Guineas on Aldar and the Oaks on Anga River. He also won four races abroad.
So it was no surprise that Murzabayev began to attract increasing interest from other leading stables in the region, and he finally accepted an offer to ride in Germany.
“In Germany, I started riding for Jan Korpas and then Roland Dzubas in Hoppergarten,” he said. “I finished 12th in the jockeys’ championship that year.”
The following season, he was on the move again after Wohler (photo: Mark Ruhl/Deutscher Galopp) noted his talent and offered him a contract. “Andreas Wohler asked me to be his third jockey, but with the option of more,” said Murzabayev.
The change to a top German stable saw Murzabayev’s natural talent bear fruit once more and he ended the season sixth in the German title race.
Since then he hasn’t looked back. He has been a dominant force in German racing.
“I was German champion jockey for the first time in 2019, then the following year working as stable jockey for Andreas Wohler and this season with Peter Schiergen,” Murzabayev said. “As a result, it has boosted my total career jockey wins to over 600.”
Murzabayev has also represented Kazakhstan in the European jockeys’ cup day, winning it twice - in 2016 and 2018 at the Czech Velka Chuchle racecourse near Prague.
He has yet to win a G1, but Murzabayev has ridden an Arc winner, having been aboard 2021 hero, Turquator Tasso, a year earlier in the G1 Allianz Grosser Preis Von Bayern at Munich, where he was beaten a neck.
It’s surely only a matter of time before he does triumph at the highest level. Bauyrzhan Murzabayev is unlikely to remain a secret for long.