What does it take to pick future champions at the sales? A Royal Ascot winning trainer shares hints from decades in the game.
There’s more to success than just luck or money. It involves trusting the right people and knowing when to forgive.
How do you introduce horses to racing so they want to keep coming back? The answer might surprise you.
And what role does a simple connection to the land play in a top trainer’s winning formula? It’s closer than you think.
Ulster Derby Success More Than Six Months in the Making for Vorfreude
We won the Ulster Derby with Vorfreude for Tom Egan who is a very good patron of mine. He's a lovely horse. He didn't win his maiden, but he learned from the experience to go in a handicap. That was the race we picked out last September. More often than not, these things don't work out. But this day, it did.
Gary Carroll’s Royal Ascot Ban? You Have To Forgive In This Game
Gary has been with me since he was a seven-pound claimer. We have a relationship where Gary comes down, he knows the horses. And we trust him, and you have to forgive. He was banned and fined at Royal Ascot, but we all make mistakes, and the thing is we're able to forgive each other, get over it and move on again.
Secrets To Picking Champion Horses At The Sales Ring
Training racehorses over a lifetime you wonder why A is better than B? There are little signs. But basically, it's in the walk. The walk constitutes the gallop as a rule and then you go for conformation, a short back and a good eye, good ear.
Horses with a presence are nearly always the horses that you see in the winners’ enclosure. Now there are exceptions like Attraction, that good filly that Mark Johnston had.
They couldn't sell her, but she was a champion racehorse. So that's what gives us all a chance, gives us all hope.
Explore a wide range of horse racing odds across all the big races, from Goodwood to Galway.
My Father’s Curious Way of Naming Horses & Racing Success
My father was in the agricultural machinery business and the first horse he bought was with Willie O'Grady, a horse called Vicon, and then he called all the horses after machines he sold. Vicon, HayBob, Vibrax, were all machines that my father was selling, and he called the horses after them.
He had a horse called Smooth Dealer who won the Thyestes. And he always said he called him after himself!
Winning the Thyestes was like us winning the Coronation Stakes.
When Joe Murphy Knew He Was Going To Be a Horse Racing Trainer
Always. I knew nothing else. The minute I went into Willie O’Grady’s yard as a 13-year-old, I knew this is what I wanted to do.
Every day is something new. Especially when you've a yearling coming into the art, it's like believing in Santa Claus again. You’ve always got to hope.
Building Confidence in Young Racehorses
We break them very gently and always the first run we never ask much, never. We want to ensure that they've enjoyed our first day, and sometimes their second.
We don’t want them to associate racing with negativity. We try to get them to enjoy it. Horses are a very responsible animal. They want to work, and they want to do the right thing. So, you just introduce them to racing in a very easy way and they'll pick it up themselves.
Murphy’s Connection to the Land and Life
I like life. I like nature. I walk with my dogs, and I like swimming in the sea if the weather is good and coming home again. Little things like that.
If you live close to the land, close to nature, you’re very fortunate to live in the country, you're very much entwined with everything around you. You’re forced to learn why something is a certain colour. It's the wonders of life and animals and nature. If you stay close to the land, you'll never go too wrong.
Moving With The Times
It is under threat, it's a pity. The magnitude of agriculture machinery, one machine, two tractors can do a thousand acres of corn there. Since the small square bale left, there's no communication with farm labourers and having the fun of making hay.
But at the same time, you have to move with modern times. That's the way the world is going and if you don't move with it, you'll be left behind.
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