Shut-down impact to be massive
DENIS MURPHY of Ballyboy Stables, The Ballagh, is one of Ireland’s most successful point-to-point trainers, and a leading buyer and seller of horses.
He says the effect of the shut-down is going to be massive and there will be tough times ahead for everybody involved, trainers, riders and stable staff.
The season does not officially end until the June bank holiday weekend, but he is not optimistic that there will be any more racing until the new season begins in the autumn.
He has 68 horses in now and at the start of 2020 had about 50 four-year-olds that were being primed to run in the important maiden races.
He did manage to run and sell off a few, some of them for very decent prices. The last sale was on March 12 at Cheltenham, and all sales have now been suspended indefinitely.
Murphy says if racing does not re-start by the end of April at the very latest, he would have no option but to let these horses off for the summer – essentially allowing them to roam free in the paddocks to feed on grass.
He has twelve full-time staff, some of them long serving, and in this scenario he will have no option but to let them go.
An awful lot of expensive horseflesh looks like having a lazy summer running around Murphy’s lush fields.
When brought back in they will have to be worked back to peak fitness for the second time.
‘We are going to lose the heart out of the season, especially for the bigger stables that specialise in having their purchases from the previous summer ready to contest the fouryear-old maidens. Those races are the shop window for sellers and buyers.’
He does not see an extension of the season into June as an option as the ground may be too risky then.
The loss of all these races will mean there will be a real glut of good horses looking for runs in the autumn series that normally does not begin until early October.
He feels it might be possible to start that programme a few weeks earlier, and it might also be possible to fit in some extra fixtures right up to mid-December.
Murphy has been doing well this season, with 18 winners having him second in the trainers’ table to Colin Bowe; these came from just 81 runners, giving him an impressive winning strike rate of 22%.
He also had 18 seconds, and the standard is so high in the four-year-old maidens in Ireland now that he is often prepared to let them go rather than waiting for more runs to get a win on the record.
He has over the years established a very strong partnership with top rider, Jamie Codd, backed up by Luke Muphy (Inch), Simon Cavanagh, local Kevin Corrigan, and young apprentice Conor Smithers.
Murphy was full of praise for all the team working at Ballyboy, and he is upset at the prospect of having to let them go.
He did acknowledge that the Government Covid-19 employment schemes would help to soften the blow a bit, and he hoped that they would all be happy to return as soon as the all clear to resume is given.