Johnny Murtagh has described his abrupt split with owner the Aga Khan last season as "a horrible moment" in his career.

Murtagh was retained rider for the renowned owner until a shock split last August which was officially due to "differences between the two parties".

Murtagh, who was sidelined by injury at the time, owns stables on the Curragh from where Tommy Carmody is based, and the split came just days after Carmody's Ursa Major beat the Aga Khan-owned and John Oxx-trained Hartani in a Curragh Group Three.

The rider now acknowledges that result was the root of the discord.

"John Oxx's (Hartani) was hot favourite and ours was 7 or 8-1. I thought he might run a place and it just happened that Ursa Major came and pipped the Aga Khan's horse," he told RTE 1's Ear To The Ground programme.

"What made it worse that I was there with him (Ursa Major).

"I was just delighted that the horse won. Beating John Oxx's (horse) wasn't great, but I was out injured at the time and my loyalty was not broken in any way.

"I felt that I wasn't doing anything wrong. I got a call straight away and I was asked to speak to the (stud) manager and that was it.

"I look back on it now from the other side of the fence and I suppose I was probably naive, but I was only trying to show everybody what I could do.

"I felt very sad. It was a horrible moment in my career, but when I look from the other side, maybe I should have seen it coming a bit earlier."

It was not the first time Murtagh had parted company with Oxx, as the rider had lost the job after battling alcohol problems in 1992.