Olly Murphy shares his Cheltenham Tips as to what his plans are for some of his big horses ahead of the 2025 Festival in an exclusive interview with BoyleSports.
He discusses with us the potential of Fingle Bridge and Strong Leader , his ambitions for a Grade 1 win, and the key factors that have led to his success. He also weighs in on the future of British racing and how it can improve moving forward.
Remember that you can bet on the latest Cheltenham Odds at BoyleSports
Olly Murphy’s 2025 Cheltenham Festival Team
We are not going to have a massive team, but we’ll have half a dozen to eight for the handicaps more so than Graded races. Obviously, the handicaps haven't closed yet. We'll hopefully go there with some each-way chances, and we'll know a little bit more in a few weeks’ time.
Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle Tips – He’ll Go To Aintree Unless…
I don't think he'll (Fingle Bridge) go, I think he'll wait for Aintree unless it was very, very soft. He's just got to carry on improving. He has had issues in the past with the undulating track.
Goodish spring ground would suit him. So, if it came up very soft, we might consider it, but I'd say we'll be looking more at Aintree.
Fingle Bridge is 20/1 for the Turners Novices’ Hurdle per the latest Cheltenham betting at BoyleSports.
Stayers’ Hurdle Tips – Will Strong Leader Run At Cheltenham?
I’d imagine he’ll (Strong Leader) stay in the Stayers’, but he’ll be more likely to go back to Aintree as a fresh horse.
The Dublin Racing Festival & Punchestown Are Fantastic In Their Own Right But Cheltenham Is Still The Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is still Cheltenham. Willie Mullins will tell you that, and so will Gordon Elliott. But the Irish festivals are fantastic festivals in their own right; they do it right as well, and they get fantastic crowds there.
They get well supported by good runners, and hopefully, more British runners will be able to support those festivals in time.
They're two fantastic festivals I'd love to kind of support in the future when we're that little bit more established again.
Grade 1 All That’s Missing From Successful Season For Olly Murphy
Things have been going great. All that’s been missing this season is a Grade 1 winner. Numbers-wise, we are well ahead of where we usually are. And we’ve added quality as well. We are certainly looking forward to spring now.
Keys To Success For Olly Murphy’s Yard
Experience certainly helps. A slightly better type of horse, and having Sean Bowen as a stable jockey and just learning year after year. Rome was never built in a day, and it was always kind of the same with Warren Chase. It was always going to improve over time.
Rubbing Shoulders With The Best Now?
I think so. We have plenty of quality among the quantity as well. We are an established big yard in National Hunt racing now and hope it will stay that way for a while, and we will keep improving on what we are doing.
How To Improve National Hunt Racing
The most obvious thing to say is better prize money and less bad racing. We dilute our sport by having 0-95s and 0-100s and too much bad racing.
We need less bad racing and put more money into the better races. I appreciate I still have got a lot of owners, a lot of syndicates that haven't got the money to potentially perform at that better level.
But if you get rid of some of this bad racing, it's only going to entice people to get a better horse or try and get a better horse and compete at a better level.
We've got that much bad racing; it's too easy to go and buy a bad horse and compete in bad racing, and I just think we should have less of it.
The Importance of Schooling Trials
They're just starting over here. We've had a couple of them. We took a horse to Chaddesley Corbett point to point the other day. It was run very well. It’s a really good initiative, and again, that's another thing that's certainly going to help us.
They give you that extra chance of a horse seeing a race course, having a racecourse gallop, seeing what levels you're at and getting that bit more experience before you have to kind of go and take others on. It’s only going to benefit English trainers, and it is a really good initiative.
The Temptation of Flat Racing For National Hunt Trainers
More of my clients are probably National Hunt kind of racing fans. Obviously, there's a lot more money revolving around Flat racing, and I can see why I mean Amy’s moved over. Best of luck to her, but it is not something that would interest me. But I can see why people have.
But France offer good prize money at the right level, but at the same time, if you've got a bad horse over there, you ain't going to win prize money, same as England.
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