Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Oisin Murphy has been told he is "feeding the lions" by a former jockey after the Kerryman apologised for a ride he gave to a beaten favourite. Murphy was beaten a neck on 6/4 favourite Old Harrovian in the BetUK All-Weather Easter Classic Middle Distance Handicap at Newcastle on Friday. But many people, including ITV presenter Oli Bell, questioned why Murphy didn't ask for an earlier effort from the favourite, who finished out his race strongly. "There will be punters who watched that race who will be thinking, you just missed out, why did you not go sooner," Bell said. Murphy's ride was defended by Bell's fellow ITV Racing pundits Adele Mulrennan and Megan Nicholls. But Murphy himself took to his social media account after the Newcastle meeting to explain his tactics on the horse, who was beaten by the David Egan-ridden 14/1 shot Salamanca. "I just want to explain what occurred with Old Harrovian at Newcastle today," Murphy said in a video. "Obviously there's a lot of unhappy people and undoubtedly the horse should have won. Normally I would have got the job done on him. "He's a hold-up horse and he broke okay, and I wasn't going to squeeze him out because he can be quite keen. "The first two furlongs of the race weren't really slow, but David Egan cleverly managed to slow the race a lot for the next four or five furlongs. And we ended up going really steady, and Old Harrovian ended up getting very keen. "When we straightened up, I couldn't go from choking him and fighting him to slow down to then panicking and asking him to go flat out. "I had to try and do it a little bit gradually, and unfortunately I was four or five strides too late with the effort. He hasn't got up on the line, and I'm unhappy that that occurred. "Normally he'd be winning that race. So sorry to all connected, particularly the people at home who look after him and his owner, Michael Blencowe." While many people praised Murphy for explaining his ride to the public, former jockey Paddy Brennan questioned if it was the right move. In a response to the video, Gold Cup-winning jockey Brennan said: "You are feeding the lions.