OLLY OR NOTHING
Murphy on rise up training ranks
Olly Murphy helped Gordon Elliott ram home six Cheltenham Festival winners and realised it was time up.
Having learned his trade as assistant trainer to the Irish master at Cullentra, that was the peak.
Murphy knew there and then it just couldn’t go any higher and he had to leave.
To take the next step, he’d need to go it alone.
Three years have passed since those magical moments with Elliott and now it’s his turn to take centre stage.
Mu r phy he a d s for Cheltenham this week with his own army.
He’ll go head-to-head with Elliott and other legends such as Willie Mullins and Nicky Henderson – and he’s ready for it.
He might be tender in years at just 27 but he’s forgotten more than most folk will ever learn and is savouring life as he rockets up the training ranks.
Murphy assessed the changes made in his career and said: “I always wanted to be a jockey but it quickly became apparent that weight was going to be an issue so training was the next focus.
“I was lucky that I had a place at Stratford-upon-Avon to go back to and a base there to go home and set up training.
“The last three years I was with Gordon, that was always the plan and it was about working my way towards that.
“The year I left Gordon, he’d had six Festival winners!
“I’d handed in my notice about a month earlier so I was leaving someone at the top.
“He’s stayed there and will continue to stay there – but I couldn’t beat what I’d learned in those years.
“I had some special days at Gordon’s, from Don Co s s a ck winn i n g t he Gold Cup, Tiger Roll winning the Tr i ump h to Fayonah winning the Bumper.
“It was a special place to work and I learned so much but I felt it was a good time to go.
“If I hadn’t gone at that moment, I’d probably have been there for the rest of my life.
“Seeing how fast Gordon rose up the ladder was inspirational to me.
“I’m just glad we started well and things have been building nicely.”
In fairness, Murphy is doing more than just building nicely.
The young trainer has quickly carved a reputation for churning out winners and Itchy Feet’s Grade 1 success in the Scily Isles at Sandown last month proved that he can produce them on the biggest days.
It was a big moment for Murphy, who explained: “That was a huge relief because we’d hit the bar plenty of times.
“I didn’t want to be here in a year or two and people saying, ‘ Christ, Olly still hasn’t trained a G1 winner.’”
With that burden removed, Murphy hits the Cotswolds this week with strong hopes. One thing he learned at Elliott’s is that there’s no point running them for the fun of it.
Murphy said: “There’s no point just going for a day out . It ’ s important to go when you have a chance.
“You have to be winning in this game – it’s how you make your reputation becau se i t ’s about crossing that line first. “We had near misses last season so hopefully we can go one better and get on the board this year. If we don’t, it’s not the end of the world but it is the Olympics of our sport.
“It’s competitive, it’s very diff icult to train winners there. But we have got nice horses and that’s what we are aspiring to.”