Olly Murphy has not yet broken into the top echelon of jumps trainers but you would not know it from the quality of rider the rookie hopes to employ at the Cheltenham Festival a fortnight from now. The 26-year-old said on Wednesday that he expects Jack Kennedy to be aboard Hunters Call in the County Hurdle, for which the horse is second favourite, and the trainer has his eye on Richard Johnson for his other fancied runner, Oxford Blu in the Fred Winter.
The Warwickshire-based Murphy, who had his first runners in July, has a handful of other Festival entries but, perhaps counterintuitively, wants to restrict the number of horses he sends to jump racing’s biggest show. “I’m going to try not to bring social runners here if I can help it,” Murphy told a pre-Festival press conference at the racecourse. “I imagine I’ll just have two or three runners.
“Winners are what young trainers need and I’m hopeful of having a couple of horses with good each-way chances and we’ll leave the rest at home. Hopefully we’ll be a little bit busier next year.”
Murphy has attracted a lot of attention with his 42 winners this season and Hunters Call provided easily the most significant of those when landing the hotly contested Racing Welfare Handicap Hurdle at Ascot two days before Christmas. It was the horse’s first and, to date, only start for Murphy, having moved from John Neilan’s Galway yard. His new trainer conceded there had been great temptation to run the horse again in the past two months but he has resisted, with the Festival as his target.
“I’ve had guidance off a few people and hopefully I’m doing the right thing,” Murphy said. “Maybe it’ll seem in two weeks that I wasn’t. He’s in good form, his preparations have gone well and, off his Ascot run, he looks good fresh.”
Hunters Call needs 21 of those weighted above him to drop out over the next fortnight if he is to get a run in the County. He is also entered in the Coral Cup and the Martin Pipe but needs even more withdrawals to get into those.
Of his ambitious jockey bookings, Murphy said: “With a bit of luck, I’ll sweet-talk Gordon Elliott [his former employer] and hopefully Jack will be able to keep the ride on Hunters Call. I don’t think Richard Johnson has a ride in the Fred Winter, so I imagine he’ll be free to ride for me.”
As Murphy and other trainers spoke, repeated flurries of snow descended on Cheltenham but none of it settled and the track remains raceable. That is likely to change by Saturday, with up to six inches of snow expected, but Cheltenham’s veteran clerk, Simon Claisse, says there is no frost in the forecast after Monday and he thinks the course will be clear again by Wednesday.
Indeed, Claisse is grateful for the snow, which will bring some necessary moisture to the track. After two dryish weeks, the course is good to soft, good in places, the least soggy description it has had since October.
Newcastle 1.50 Indian Red 2.20 Desert Ruler 2.55 Natch 3.30 Archipeligo 4.05 Made Of Honour (nap) 4.40 Deansgate 5.15 Oriental Lilly
Kempton 5.55 Fiery Breath 6.30 Higgy's Heartbeat 7.00 White Desert 7.30 Fortune's Pearl 8.00 Arsenio Lupin 8.30 World Of Good (nb) 9.00 Freddy With A Y
– Tips by Chris Cook.
