Corkman John Murphy excited to have his first Derby runner
Today should see Tahiyra give Chris Hayes and Dermot Weld a second consecutive Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas at Curragh Racecourse.
Former Galway Plate-winning jockey Mark Enright has an engagement in the same race on Aspen Grove. He navigated her to Group 3 success last season for Fozzy Stack, who has been a major supporter of the Limerick native in the past couple of years along with Ger Lyons.
It would be something else if they upset the odds, as the 31-year-old pilot hangs up his boots tomorrow. Either way, he will be remembered forever for breaking the taboo that had existed for too long in the weigh room around mental health. His legacy is cemented.
Next Saturday, the Betfred Derby offers up two credible possibilities of another fantastic story.
John Murphy is a trainer based in Upton who is best known for winning the Champion Chase at Cheltenham with Newmill 17 years ago.
The Corkman, who came from a showjumping background, trains no more than 40 horses but has a history of producing good ones on the Flat. Trading them has kept the business afloat. Tuscan Evening won nine times in America, all bar one at graded level and one of those a Grade 1. That was at the beginning of the last decade, but there have been many more since.
The difference with White Birch, who was bought by Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez and her husband John Murrell after winning a Dundalk maiden last November, was that the new owners opted to leave the grey son of Ulysses in the yard even though they have enjoyed Classic, Breeders’ Cup and multiple Group 1 success with Aidan and Joseph O’Brien.
It was a major vote of confidence, and Murphy and his team have repaid that faith. White Birch overcame trouble in running to record a gutsy triumph on heavy ground to win the Ballysax at the beginning of April and illustrated his versatility when just failing to reel in The Foxes in the Dante at York last month on good-to-firm going.
“As everyone knows, Ireland is as tough a place as you’re ever going to be able to train in, but the other side of that is it makes the horses very valuable here and it creates opportunity for you,” explains Murphy’s son and assistant George of the pragmatic business model.
But that doesn’t mean that as horsemen and competitors, they don’t want to be operating at the elite level. Which is why not having to ship White Birch onto someone else is so exciting.
“We couldn’t be more thankful to the owners for giving us the chance to keep him because, as everyone knows, we’re predominantly a selling yard and most of our nice horses end up going abroad. So it’s really nice to have one that you had faith in all along and get to go to the nicer races and meetings with them.”
Murphy Snr admits to experiencing a raft of emotions looking forward to Epsom. “It’s really exciting to have my first Derby runner and we are really looking forward to it,” he says. “For us, it’s huge — a mixture of feeling excitement and apprehension.”
He was very pleased with his run in York. “It wasn’t the plan to track them all in York, but he lost at least a length at the start and then stayed on really well. It looks like he will stay [a mile and a half], but nobody can really answer that question at this stage. There have been no issues at home since and we are delighted with him. He has a great mind and is sound, the qualities you look for and need in a great horse.”
Sprewell represents Jessica Harrington, who has won most of what there is to win. The Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Champion Chase are on her CV in the jumps’ sphere, the Irish 1000 Guineas and Irish Oaks among a slew of Group 1s added to the roll of honour in the past five years on the Flat.
Harrington had an operation on Tuesday as the latest stage of her treatment for breast cancer, which has already included a full round of chemotherapy. The Moone-based conditioner has faced her battle in trademark straight-shouldered fashion with the aid of a strong support system headed by daughters Emma and Kate.
She said: “The horses really have been a massive help to me and I’m really lucky to have a massive support team here. I did my best to get out every single day that I could to look at the horses because that was the best therapy that I reckoned I had.”
Sprewell fits the profile of a Derby horse, an improver for which juvenile competition was about education more than winning. After getting off the mark on heavy ground at Naas in March, the Churchill colt galloped to a resounding victory in the Derby Trial at Leopardstown at the beginning of May on soft-to-heavy going, but Harrington doesn’t believe that testing underfoot conditions are an imperative for her charge.
“Nothing seems to faze him,” she said, “and I think going the mile and a half will suit him because I think he’ll settle well, which he had done in both of his races this year. He’s a fine, big horse and we’ve been very lucky so far with the temperament he’s got. He’s very straightforward and each time he’s run he’s walked around the parade ring in a very relaxed manner. I know there will be much more hype and buzz at Epsom, but so far he’s been very good.”
