There are few yards in better form at present than that of Michael Murphy. Based just outside the small Wexford village of Duncormick near Kilmore Quay in the south of the county, from the 11 runners that he has sent out so far this season, four have been winners.
Such has been the good form of the yard this season, that each of his most recent eight runners across the last three weekend’s of action have finished in the placings.
“We have been working hard for the last four months. The last two seasons we have started feeding the horses haylage as opposed to hay and we are using RedMills nuts too. We used to do our own mixes, so they are two changes that we made to the camp,” said Murphy when discussing the yard’s rich vein of form at present.
“We also redid our gallop this year. I have turned my gallop over numerous times and done different twists and turns and it is working really well there.
“We are under no illusions, when you are working with horses there is going to be a lot of pain during the season, but we are enjoying the highs at the minute – everything is running well.”
The stable’s good form has been led by the sprightly veteran Better B Quick who is one of just four two-time winners this season, having also run a big race at Moig South last Saturday when chasing home Troytown contender Space Cadet and Fenno’s Storm, the winner of the last two editions of the Tetretema Hunter Chase at Gowran Park.
“He has been brilliant. We clipped him last week and the shine on his coat, he is looking an absolute picture and loving life at the minute.
“He gets a massage every week. Alisha Bates gives him a massage and he goes to the sea. We would do very little with him at home and just let him enjoy his sun,” said Murphy of the now five-time winner in the open division following victories at Tinahely and Dowth Hall last month.
“He is looking a picture of health and he has never been as sound as he is at the minute. There was always something, but Alisha has helped him big time, so he is moving really well and there is every chance that he will run again on Sunday, because he is in really good form and ran a cracker last weekend.”
In some ways, at Redbridge Stables they divert from what has become the norm for many of the counties other handlers. For so many of the operators within the younger age maidens, the focus is on a quick turnaround. Three-year-old’s bought at the store sales, with many having already run as four-year-old’s and sold on within the following 12 months.
Murphy elects to recruit his horses at a much earlier point.
“We tend to buy the horses as foals, it’s what I’ve always done really. I would buy at any age but I like to buy a bunch of foals every year.
“In the early days we would have sold them as three-year-old’s at the store sales and then just things have turned a little bit now that we are point-to-pointing.
“It’s not an instantaneous thing, it’s four or five years down the road, a bit longer than the flat boys or the point-to-point lads that buy them at three and win with them a year later, we have them a bit longer.
“It is just the way we started and when you keep putting them in every year it is a bit like a conveyor belt. We treat them a bit like storing cattle for the first few years. We feed them in sheds and let them out for a bit during the day and then back in again at night.”
That method has proven to be a successful formula for Murphy and his wife Ashleigh, with a number of their Redbridge Stable graduates having achieved subsequent black type success, having been sourced at inexpensive prices.
Lifeboat Mona, a debut Fairyhouse four-year-old maiden winner for the pair, was acquired for just €600 as a foal but went on two win two Listed races for Paul Nicholls, whilst the Ditcheat trainer has also won five races with Murphy’s Ballinaboola four-year-old winner If You Say run. The latest of those successes for the Mahler mare coming on her racecourse debut over fences last month.
The stable’s graduates are in as good form as their current inhabitants, with Imperial View and Vinnie Dev, two of last spring’s pointers for the pair, opening their accounts for their new trainers Henry de Bromhead and Nick Williams in recent weeks.
Unsurprisingly, they will be hoping that those successes will bolster interest in the two horses that they will be bringing to the market next week, with Moig South winner Bobby Bow, and Midway To Getaway, who was placed on the same card going to the Cheltenham sales.
The former gaining fame for his name after champion handler Colin Bowe’s son Bobby.
“I met Colin Bowe one day at Monksgrange and he had his son with him, and I said to him ‘Oh what is this young man’s name’ and he spoke up ‘Bobby’.
“I said ‘Bobby Bowe, geez that is a famous name’. Hence, we have the horse Bobby Bow,” explains Murphy of the five-year-old that was bought from his breeder Dermot Cross as a foal.
Bobby Bow lot 44 15th November @tattscheltenham Bobby Bow, you should see him go... %uD83D%uDE01 @Tiernanpower1 pic.twitter.com/K6VxvPj33s
— Ashleigh Murphy (@redbridgestable) November 6, 2019
“He won well and he will come on an awful lot for the run. He actually was not fully fit believe it or not and will really come on for it. He is a decent horse and we had his half-brother too, Welcome Ben. We point-to-pointed him and then he went to Scotland and won five or six races for Jackie Stephen.”
“He has come out of the race very well and goes to the Cheltenham Sales next week now along with the Getaway filly (Midway To Getaway) that finished second in Moig South too.”
The good start to the season has already left 21-year-old locally-based rider Tiernan Power close to his previous season’s best total of winners, having ridden the majority of their horses this season, and Murphy emphasises the role that he and Gary Murphy play in their success, as they look forward to the rest of the season.
“Gary is the backbone of the operation and when it comes to jockeying Tiernan has been a big addition to the place. The two boys ride ours and they are two very good men on horses, with Tollic, our yardman a big part of the team. We get a lot of help from Emma Cousins, Sean Staples, Eoin Staples, Andrew Walsh, Paddy Scallan, Jack Hendrick and Jack Brophy and they are a great bunch of riders.
“Most of our autumn horses have had a run now, we have one more to come call Recite A Prayer by Recital and I would like to get a run into him, I think he is decent.
“We work hard and we try hard so if we can keep them healthy and well we have a few nice three-year-old’s to do something with in the spring, which we’re looking forward to.”
