John Murphy

Principal Jockeys: Danny Grant, Seamie Heffernan

JohnMurphyNotable Wins:

  • Kingdom Gold Cup Handicap (Top Spin 2010)
  • Kinloch Brae Chase (Newmill 2010+ 2006)
  • Red Mills Trial Hurdle (Newmill 2007)
  • Cashmans Juvenile Hurdle (Convincing 2007)
  • Panda Juvenile Hurdle (Convincing 2007)
  • Lombardstown Mares Novice Chase (Lala Nova 2006)
  • Ridgewood Pearl Stakes (Pout 2006)
  • Kerrygold Champion Chase (Newmill 2006)
  • Queen Mother Champion Chase (Newmill 2006)
  • Anaglog's Daughter EBF Mares Novice Chase (Come In Moscow 2003)

Early Days

John Murphy cut his teeth in the world of show jumping rather than racing. He grew up surrounded by horses and after finishing school, he went to work with the highly-regarded show jumper Iris Kellett in Dublin before travelling to England where he came under the wing of the legendary show jumper Harvey Smith. After arriving home, he immersed himself in the show jumping scene, breeding jumpers and travelling around Europe to compete.

As he began to get more and more involved with thoroughbreds, Murphy began his training career slowly but surely, with his first representative being Hilltop Bavard, who ran in a bumper and a couple of hurdle races during the course of 1995. Murphy didn’t have another runner until Kilbue King came on the scene in 1997 and it was that horse that gave him his first win by prevailing in a maiden hurdle at Clonmel on November 1st 1997. That horse went on to finish second in a couple of handicap hurdles before being sold on to continue his career in England. Selling to England was a notable feature of Murphy’s early training career, with the two most notable graduates from his care being Take Control and Classified, both of whom won bumpers for Murphy before going on to have very successful careers in the care of Martin Pipe.

A Breakout Horse

Every trainer needs a high-class horse to take their careers to the next level and for Murphy that horse was unquestionably Newmill. Already a dual Grade 2 winner for Tom O’Leary, Newmill had lost his way and was transferred to Murphy at the beginning of the 2005/6 season. Murphy used a lot of what he had learned in the show jumping industry to help Newmill rediscover his confidence and it wasn’t long before the results began to show, with the eight-year-old winning the Grade 2 Kinloch Brae Chase at Thurles in January 2006. Better still was to come just two months later, as Newmill gained an unexpected but spectacular nine lengths win in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, a win that propelled Murphy’s name into the international racing spotlight. The following month, Newmill proved that his success at Cheltenham was no fluke, as he tasted further Grade 1 glory in the Kerrygold Champion Chase at the Punchestown Festival. Those successes did wonders for Murphy’s profile and as a result, the number of horses in his care grew notably.

Further Success

Buoyed by the successes of Newmill, 2006 also saw Murphy have his best-ever season on the Flat, with the highlight of his five wins on the level unquestionably being the success of Pout in the Group 2 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes at the Curragh.  The momentum was very much maintained by Murphy through the year and the winter months of 2006/7 were particularly successful, with him sending out Lala Nova to win the Listed Lombardstown Mares Novice Chase at Cork before Convincing registered two valuable wins, namely in the Grade 3 Panda Juvenile Hurdle at Punchestown and the Grade 2 Cashmans Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown. A couple of weeks later, Newmill completed what was an excellent couple of months for yard by winning the Grade 2 Red Mills Hurdle at Gowran Park. The following month, Newmill could only find fourth to Voy Por Ustedes in his attempt to retain his Queen Mother Champion Chase crown and remarkably, he would not re-enter the winner’s enclosure for the better part of three years.

A Quiet Few Years

Indeed, as can often be the way in the business of training racehorses, following such a successful period, Murphy went through a prolonged quiet spell that stretched all the way from the end of the 2007 season up until the end of 2009. The most notable run by one of Murphy’s charges during that time was that of his Tuscan Evening in the Irish 1000 Guineas. Still a maiden, she was sent off at 66/1, but ran an absolute cracker, finishing a never-nearer second, only just failed to peg back Halfway To Heaven. Controversially, she was demoted to fourth in a subsequent steward’s inquiry, which was a costly decision for Murphy.

Returning To Form

The expression “good things come to those that wait” could have been tailor made for racehorse trainers, as they so often have to endure prolonged spells in poor form through little or no fault of their own. However, in 2010, John Murphy’s fortunes began to change. With his National Hunt team showing distinct signs of promise at the backend of the 2009/10 season, it was his Flat team that really showed that his squad was back in rude form. Having saddled a steady stream of winners through the opening months of the season, Murphy’s team erupted into a remarkable run of form in August, with him saddling no less than nine winners from just 29 runners. In one month, he had saddled more winners than he had in the previous three years. The highlight of the wins was that of Top Spin in the valuable Kingdom Gold Cup Handicap at Killarney, which made up one leg of a double on the card for Murphy.

With his team now in red-hot form, Murphy is well on his way to smashing his previous best in terms of winners in a Flat season and with the strong possibility that he has a yard of well-handicapped National Hunt horses in his care, Murphy’s run of success looks set to continue for some time to come.

Updated September 2010.