Ferdy's winning formula
Major prizes are coming his way with greater frequency and his recent brace of winners at Cheltenham (L’Antartique and Joe’s Edge) underlined the fact that his ever-growing prominence is far from being a flash in the pan.
To some, Murphy may appear to be something of an overnight success, but nothing could be further from the truth for a man who made his name as a private trainer before establishing himself as a serious handler in his own right.
His grounding came under the guidance of legendary Irish racing figures like Phonsie O’Brien (Vincent’s brother) and Paddy Mullins, but it was the success horses like Anaglogs Daughter, Gee-A, Sibton Abbey and many more he trained for various wealthy businessmen that eventually allowed him to strike out on his own and establish himself as one of the pre-eminent trainers of his era.
In many ways, however, he has followed the road less travelled in order to get to that position, but that has given him invaluable experience both of his own chosen field and of life in general.
His racing life began many moons ago, but he largely seized every opportunity that came his way in order to live his dream.
“At the very start I was working with a fellow called Jim Ryan up in Swords and I came home one weekend and a neighbour of ours, Josie Collins, who knew I wanted to get into racing because he liked to have a bet himself, knew someone who knew someone else and it ended up that I went to Phonsie O’Brien’s as an apprentice.
Home was Clonroche in Co. Wexford, a rural area, and there were working horses – Irish draught horses mainly – on the family farm. Ferdy maintains he preferred “messing around” with them rather than “playing around on bikes or whatever it was young fellas got up to those days.”
HE was apprenticed as a jockey at O’Brien’s and spent a total of seven years there. In the end though he wasn’t getting any rides, mainly because the most prominent owners in the yard such as the Valentines and Raymond Guest wanted top jockeys on their horses, so he first went to Danny Kinnane’s for a year, in which period there he had over 100 rides. However, struggling with his weight, he became disenchanted and went to work in London as a labourer before an opportunity came up in Wexford “breaking point-to-pointers and stuff like that” and that in turn led him to Paddy Mullins’ yard in Goresbridge where was he was taken on to break yearlings.
“I worked hard there and after about six months I was made head lad and after that he made me first jockey. Paddy was a great man to work for, but he was the sort of man who didn’t delegate, he just expected you to get on with the job. If you got on with it he never bothered you, but if you didn’t you got a kick up the arse. You had to have initiative there or you didn’t survive.”
Ferdy eventually tired of the constant battle with his weight and, oddly enough, this led to him running a slot machine arcade in Bundoran for a few years while he also did a bit of riding on the side for the likes of Andrew McNamara and Captain Dermot Swan (Charlie’s father). But then the type of slots he was operating were outlawed and he moved to Dublin where he was about to get his break into training.
He had known Dublin developer Bill Durkan for many years and had ridden a good few horses for him. At the time in the late seventies and early eighties there was something of a mini-economic boom going on and Durkan’s racing interests were expanding and he took Ferdy on to look after them.
“I was riding a few for Bill alright, but basically I was training them for him. It was only a very small yard, but we had a few classy horses – Double Wrapped, Tara Lee – and we won a lot of good races up and down the country. Then Tony Durkan (Bill’s brother) bought Anaglogs Daughter and she turned out to be a superstar.
“She was the highest rated novice ever to race in Ireland and I think she still is. She was rated 171 back then, which would make her about 191 now, which is an incredible mark.”
Ferdy trained the mare to win the Arkle at Cheltenham in 1980 and he still rates it as one of the best moments of his racing life, but the same week was to turn up a fairly incredible series of events.
Having won at Cheltenham on a Tuesday, she was entered in the Aynsley China Cup at Chepstow the following Saturday because there was decent prizemoney and a fabulous trophy – worth about £2,000 back in those days – which the owner fancied.
“The day after she won at Cheltenham I met Jonjo (O’Neill) in the weighroom and I asked him if he’d ride her at Chepstow on the Saturday and he said he would.
There were no mobile phones back in those days and when I got to Chepstow I was called to the weighroom and told that Jonjo had broken his collarbone the day before at Hexham or somewhere.
“I went into the weighroom to try and get someone to ride her but I couldn’t get anyone. Tony Durkan told me to ride her myself. The thing was that’s we’d been on the piss since Cheltenham and I’ll tell you it was a good job someone didn’t light a match inside in that weighroom.”
ANAGLOGS Daughter won the race and a slightly worse-for-wear Ferdy picked up the china trophy for the delighted owners. But, change was once more about to be central to his life.
“My marriage had just broken up and things in Ireland started to tighten up financially and I suppose I had been hankering after a move to England for a while. There were a lot more opportunities in England than there were in Ireland at that point. The Durkans had been wonderful people to work for and it was a terrible wrench to leave them,” he recalls.
After assessing a number of job opportunities, he eventually linked up with wealthy farmer cum businessman Geoff Hubbard and became his private trainer.
“He had a lot of horses in training and a lot of younger animals and the idea initially was that I’d look after the pre-training of the younger horses before they were sent out to various trainers. But one horse that was sent back to me from one of the big yards was Gee-A because it was felt he’d gone stale and would maybe do a bit better in a smaller yard.
“We won at both Cheltenham at Aintree with Gee-A afterwards (the horse becoming the youngest ever to win over the National fences at Liverpool), so that was a fantastic start for me. But I wasn’t losing the run of myself. I knew a lot of trainers who didn’t have an arse in their trousers, so there was no way I was taking anything for granted, even though we had a good run of it there.
“I had been very well looked after by the Durkans and now I was getting a good salary from Mr. Hubbard. I was in a situation where I was getting well paid and was being given good horses, so it was a good situation for me back then.”
Understandably, given the success he’d had as a private trainer, Ferdy was mulling over the possibility of going out on his own. He’d suggested to Hubbard that a public training licence be taken out, but his benefactor was no so keen on the idea.
Then came an offer from Robert Ogden to move to Yorkshire to run his nascent racing operation and Ferdy moved north to Middleham. “I’d looked at doing something in Lambourn, but there was no way I could train there. Part of the attraction of Middleham was the fact that it was not in any way cosmopolitan and myself and my partner Janet (sister of Irish trainer Joanna Morgan) both loved it straightaway.”
If the move north was in itself was a success, the partnership with Ogden only lasted two years as Ferdy found he was being given young and green horses who were going to take time, but winners were required and the patience was not a strong point. He also found dealing with the owner’s intermediaries frustrating.
About ten years ago Ferdy finally struck out on his own and in 2000 he established his current base at West Witton and it has been from here that he has become a powerful force on England’s northern racing circuit.
Horses like French Holly, Granit D’Estruval, Joe’s Edge and many more have helped him to seven Cheltenham victories, two Scottish Grand Nationals, an Irish National, a Kerry National, a Midlands National and many, many more.
He’s had over 300 winners in the last nine years and each year the ambitions and expectations have been ratcheted up.
“I buy all my own horses and over the years we’ve been getting better at finding good ones. I work closely with my brother Michael, who’s still on the farm down in Wexford and he acts as a spotter for me in Ireland. I learned a long time ago that quality is more important than quantity and I still believe in the old adage that ‘good horses find you; you don’t find them.’”
ON Monday he will saddle Nine De Sivola in the Irish National as he attempts to repeat Granit D’Estruval’s 2004 victory in the Fairyhouse showpiece and he says he’s been delighted with the horse since it fell in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham.
“He was running a big race there and he fell at the third last, but he is normally a very good jumper. He came to the fence on the wide outside and it caught him out and he didn’t get his landing gear out. But it was a soft fall and he’s been jumping brilliantly at home when we’ve schooled him since,” Murphy says.
The addition of Graham Lee to the West Witton team is something which the trainer feels has been a big boost to the yard. Murphy moved quickly when Lee was replaced as stable jockey at Howard Johnson’s Durham yard and it is a move he has not regretted.
“Graham had ridden a bit for me before he came here as stable jockey and it is only when you use people like him that you realise how advanced they are by comparison with other riders. Obviously I had Adrian Maguire riding for me before and he was one of the best jockeys I’ve ever seen – an incredible man to have as stable jockey. But getting Graham on board has been huge and has allowed us to move forward. He’s another piece in the jigsaw puzzle.
Murphy is very happy now with what he has and says he has some lovely younger horses coming through to join established stars in the yard and while there have been difficult times in the past, the future looks bright.
Ferdy has been around the block a few times and has seen many ups and downs in what is, at best. an unpredictable game. But his characteristic mile-wide smile and upbeat demeanour indicate a man who has become an intimate acquaintance with that most elusive of racing’s key elements - the formula for success.
