Illness rules out Murphy runners

Ferdy Murphy is to suspend operations at his Middleham stable for the next fortnight because of an illness which has affected his recent runners, including Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup hope Truckers Tavern.

Murphy revealed today that after running Luzcadou at Ayr tomorrow, he will not be making any more entries for at least two weeks to give his team, who have been inoculated to combat the problem, plenty of time to recover.