Novice Olly masters art of winning
Olly Murphy was up to his knees in snow yesterday trying to keep his Warwickshire stable on the move and making sure yensir will make it to lingfield today and Sevilla to Chelmsford tonight.
It makes a change. During a remarkable first six months with a trainer’s licence, Murphy has been up to his neck in winners.
When Compatriot won at Wolverhampton on Wednesday, it was Murphy’s 50th success since Dove Mountain gave him a winner with his first runner at Brighton on July 4. Five days later Gold Class, his first jumps runner, won at Market rasen.
What started off as a 10-horse operation manned by Murphy and a couple of staff is already up to 60 horses with a working roster of 20 people.
hunters Call, who gave Murphy his biggest success so far when lifting the £85,000 first prize in the racing Welfare handicap hurdle at Ascot before Christmas, will head a three- strong Cheltenham Festival squad.
The run of success has won approval from top Irish trainer Gordon Elliott, Murphy’s old boss. Murphy assisted him for four years, helping with 10 Festival wins.
Elliott instilled in Murphy that only one thing matters — winners, lots of them and no matter where. his protege has followed that mantra.
‘I thought if I could train 10 winners, I’d be over the moon,’ said 26-year-old Murphy.
‘To train 50 is remarkable. I hope it is only the start of things and in the next five or six years we can start competing at the highest level.
‘Gordon has been a massive help. his advice has been brilliant. I still speak to him four or five days a week. he is the best trainer in Ireland and will continue to be for years. I am young and ambitious and wanted to be like him.
‘Winners get people’s attention, whether it is at Wolverhampton on a Friday night or Ascot on a Saturday.’
Murphy, whose father Aiden is a prominent bloodstock agent, trains a couple of hundred yards from where his mother Anabel has a training base in the village of Wilmcote, near Stratford.
Murphy hopes Elliott will allow his young jockey, Jack Kennedy, to maintain his partnership with hunters Call, who has been saved for the Festival since Ascot. ‘The horse really runs well fresh and we are really excited about running him in the County hurdle,’ said Murphy.
Murphy’s other Festival runners will be Oxford Blu, who Murphy thinks ‘ can outrun his odds’ in the Fred Winter Juvenile handicap hurdle, and Knockgraffon in the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable plate handicap Chase.
First up is yensir, part-owned by Murphy’s mother and who makes his debut for the stable in the Betway Casino handicap this afternoon.
Murphy said: ‘he’s in very good form and I imagine he’d be competitive.’