Going flat out for success

Until last March, the name John Joseph Murphy did not exactly trip off the tongue when one thought of big time Irish trainers, but Newmill’s victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and subsequently in the Irish version at Punchestown has propelled the Upton, Co Cork trainer to a new realm of renown.

And now, with the flat season gathering momentum, Murphy has a string of two and three year olds which he hopes will further underline not only his ability to send out winners, but also to breed them.

His Highfort Stud operation has always been involved in the production of horses and while attention might originally have focussed on breeding show jumpers, as Murphy himself has becoming increasingly involved in the racing game over the last decade, it was only natural that the breeding of race horses would follow.