Millionaire champing at the bit for 6am starts

Many 28-year-olds lucky enough to become millionaires overnight might be tempted to take the next week off work while blowing much of their newfound fortune on a series of all-night parties.

But just over a week on from his €1.5m win at Cheltenham, Cork-born stable lad Conor Murphy is back to his 6am starts — and delighted that life is pretty much as it was before his windfall.

“Thank God things are back to normal anyway,” he said while taking a break for lunch at trainer Nicky Henderson’s Seven Barrows stables in Lambourn, England. “I have been working all week. Being back to normality is good.”

Conor scooped his fortune by backing five of Henderson’s horses with a €60 accumulator bet at Cheltenham. For a couple of days, his name and face was in almost every newspaper in Ireland and the UK and he was inundated with calls from people offering their congratulations.

“The last six days have been really quiet, thank God. I have got a few calls and messages and emails from back home from people saying ‘well done’.

“The amount of good wishes I’ve got have been absolutely unbelievable, overwhelming really because you don’t expect it to be such a big thing.

“You don’t expect it to happen and be so publicised. I appreciate everyone for all their good wishes.

“There would not be many people begrudging. In fairness the good wishes I got last weekend were overwhelming. It was great for everyone at home. It still hasn’t fully sunk in but it slowly is.”

He has also been the toast of the stables.

“The lads in the stable have been having the craic. In fairness all the lads in the yard are delighted for me.

“Things have gone back to normal for them as well. Last week was a crazy week. We had 30-odd runners at Cheltenham and it was mayhem. The lads will throw the odd line of ‘what am I still doing here’ and all that but they are all happy for me.”

Now that the furore has died down and he is out of the public’s eye once more he is able to consider his next step, but he is giving little away.

“I have a bit more time to think about what I’ll do with the money but that doesn’t make it any easier,” he said.

“I won’t get a new car, I’m happy enough with the one I’ve got. I have looked into a couple of holidays, just browsing more than anything. I have nothing booked but a holiday probably would be top of the agenda at the moment. No other plans really.”

Probe a little further though and it appears two large investments could be on the horizon.

“I don’t own a house. Obviously one thing I will probably do is buy one. Where, I’m not sure. I’m not sure what’s going to happen yet, but definitely I will be looking. It will be nice.”

The other spend may well be on one of the four-legged flyers that have made his fortune.

“There is no plans to buy a horse at the moment but, I’ll see,” he said. “I always said that I wouldn’t buy a horse but you know I might have a look into it. I wouldn’t rule it out.”

For the foreseeable future, he has no plans to return to Ireland but will continue to ply his trade in England.

“We will be busy over the next couple of weeks getting the horses ready for Aintree and after that we have a couple of weeks before Punchestown.

“After Punchestown it will be getting quiet and we will be able to relax and then I will be able to have a proper think about what to do, book a holiday or two.

“It’s a nice situation to be in anyway.”