Novice Trainer Makes His Mark In Carnarvon
22 July, 2016
Thoroughbred
Ryan Murphy is hedging his bets and taking a punt each way. If training horses doesn’t work out as a career option his fall-back position is in computer science.
But after an amazing day out at Carnarvon last weekend when he trained five winners on the six race card, Murphy’s future vocation has become much clearer.
“I’m actually at university doing my masters and that keeps me busy for a good part of the afternoon,” Murphy said on TABradio.
“I originally did a bachelor of computer science way back when, but I thought I would keep my head in the game.
“It’s a changing industry and that’s why after 10 years I thought I would go back and learn something new.
“It would be nice to go training full time, but to be honest I’m taking it one race and one meeting at a time.
“Definitely after the weekend you get a lot of enquiries from people who are interested in what you are doing.
“These sort of results certainly make it a lot easier and give you a bit of choice than if you are not winning.”
Murphy joined a select group in Australian racing including Alan Bailey, John Blacker and Brett Cavanough, who prepared five winners at Doomben, Launceston and Albury respectively.
Murphy’s haul also puts him right in the frame to take out Carnarvon’s Leading Trainer award, he currently is tied with Michelle Valentine on 44 points apiece.
It’s a great shot in the arm and confidence boost for Murphy who surprisingly did not have any background or experience with horses until later in life.
It took the beauty and charm of an outback country race track, 950km north of Perth, to ignite and spark his passion for thoroughbred racing.
“To be honest it all came about by accident and I didn’t grow up with horses,” Murphy said.
“I think I had first ridden a horse when I was 12 and the next time when I was about 20.
“It was a country race club at Landor, the Eastern Gascoyne Race Club, that really got me hooked into racing.
“I went up there the first year to just watch and was really sucked in before taking a horse the next year and winning a race.
“The following year I won the Landor Cup and after that I was hooked.”
As a novice to training Murphy was keen to broaden and cultivate his knowledge base. He said working with key mentors, Lindsey Smith and Gary Delane, two accomplished Western Australian horseman, played a pivotal role in his development.
“Lindsey is a real nice guy and a fantastic bloke,” Murphy said.
“I was only with him a short time but he helped me out quite a bit.
“With Gary Delane in Albany I learned more about breaking horses than I have in all of my career.
“You get these gems through the industry that teach you so much in a short space of time.”
Julio Santarelli