‘All-time great’ racehorse trainer Ferdy Murphy

Ferdy Murphy, who trained 10 Cheltenham Festival and three Scottish Grand National winners, has died. He was 70.

Ferdinand Murphy grew up on a farm in County Wexford, Ireland. On leaving school, he worked for racehorse trainer Phonsie O’Brien in Tipperary.

Mr Murphy moved to London and had a brief stint working in the building trade before the “lure of horses was too strong” and he returned to Ireland to work at the stables of Paddy Mullins.

Mr Murphy excelled as a professional jockey, racking up more than 100 wins between 1966 and 1982, many of them during the six years he spent working for Mullins.

As a private trainer for the Durkan family in County Dublin, Mr Murphy trained Anaglog’s Daughter, the mare which brought him his proudest moment at Cheltenham when she won the Arkle Trophy in 1980. Just four days later, Anaglog’s Daughter won at Chepstow.

Tributes have been pouring in from across the racing world for Mr Murphy, whose first winner at the Scottish Grand National was Paris Pike in 2000. He went on to win with Joes Edge in 2005 and Hot Weld in 2007.

In addition to training horses, he also mentored talented jockeys including Grand National winners Graham Lee and Davy Russell.

Lee, who won the 2004 Grand National on Amberleigh House, described Ferdy as “a brilliant fella and a brilliant trainer”.

He said: “They were great times and all my thoughts are with his family. God rest him.”

Russell, who won back to back Grand Nationals in 2018 and 2019 with Tiger Roll, said: “Very sad to hear of Ferdy Murphy’s passing, one of the all-time greats of our game. He was a huge part of my life and career.”

From 1996 to 2013, Mr Murphy was based at Wynbury Stables in North Yorkshire. He was latterly based in France. Mr Murphy died after a long battle with illness, having been diagnosed with cancer four years ago.

Ferdy Murphy died after a battle with illness.