Olly Murphy

After four years of working with Gordon Elliott I came home to my family place to start training and I’d be lying if I didn't say that I am thrilled with how we’ve started since July.

I was lucky enough to come back to my family home and I was already in the process of putting in facilities that were similar to Gordon’s and it was my plan to come home and keep things as similar to Gordon’s as I could. We had a team of 12 or 13 horses for my first few months and they were horses that had very little ability but I just tried to run them in the right races and have the right man on their back and get them as fit as I possibly could.

Thank God, it started great and I was lucky it just snowballed from there.

I probably took Gordon’s success for granted when I was there, to be honest. I suppose I felt like part of the furniture there, I had been there for a few of his pinnacle years when there was Gold Cup winners and six Cheltenham Festival winners and you just nearly come to think that is the norm… until you go out on your own and then you soon realise what he has achieved at such a young age.

It is phenomenal what he has done and I just tried to come home and emulate what he has done on a much smaller scale, with a lesser amount of horses and with horses that don't have as much ability but just try and keep things as similar as we possibly can. I haven't tried to complicate things.

I’m an absolute million miles away from being a Gordon Elliott but it is a dream of mine to be as successful in England as he is in Ireland and I feel I learnt off the right man. I tried to go in there at 7.30 in the morning and leave at 4.30 in the evening with my eyes and ears open and see what is going on and to be as clued up and as alert as I possibly could knowing that one day I was going to go home and try to train myself.

I haven't got a clue what it is like to be training a good horse, I’ve only been training six months, and the majority of my string are little handicappers that you try and buy for small money and get peoples' attention by getting them to win races and you just hope by doing that someone might fancy putting their hand in their pocket and sending you a nice horse and then you get the chance to prove you can try a good horse.

To get quality horses you’ve got to train low quality winners first so I know it takes time but winning a Ladbroke at Ascot was unbelievable. I couldn't have wished upon my wildest dreams what a great start we’ve had. I thought if I could train 10 winners in my first season I’d have been over the moon but we trained our 40th winner the other day.

There was a bit of a joke to start with but genuinely I didn't want to come home and be this person that worked in Gordon Elliott’s for four years but couldn't come back to England and train any winners. In every sport, not just racing, there are people out there waiting to watch you fail or trip up and while I know we have a long way to go, I think I’ve proven that I’m not that lucky lad who went up to his mother and father and can’t train a racehorse.

When I used to go to bed at night I used to think ‘please God, let that not be me’ but I’m pleased I proved that I wasn't asleep when I was in Gordon’s and I know I’ve mentioned him a lot but genuinely, the four years I spent in Gordon’s was a massive reason as to how I’ve come back and started training winners.

I’ve been lucky enough to get a small leg up and I’m the first to say that I’m fortunate that I don't have to pay big rent in a yard in Newmarket or places like that as a lot of lads starting out have to do but I’ve put in good facilities and a lot of other trainers have good facilities and good owners but still can’t train winners.

All being well I’ll have three or four runners at Cheltenham and hopefully Hunters Call will go there with a proper each-way chance and the other few will be 20/1 shots but probably deserve to be there. I couldn't in my wildest dreams think that I could have a Cheltenham Festival winner in my first season - I didn't even think I’d have a runner - so whatever happens between now and the end of the season will be a massive bonus and I just want to keep moving forward and doing the right thing.

Punchestown might be a realistic target for some of my horses. I love Ireland and love the people in Ireland and a lot of people have been very good to me over there and obviously it was brilliant to have Jack Kennedy ride Hunters Call to win the Ladbroke for me as I’d grown up with him in Gordon’s and watched him go from having no winner ridden when he started to where he is now.

In a few years time I’d love to think that I’ll be making a stack of entries for the Dublin Racing Festival. I can’t believe that English trainers have ignored it this weekend but I genuinely believe that they are ignoring it because they can’t beat the Irish horses. Ireland is a special place to me and I’d love to go back there and train a winner. I do go back as much as I possibly can and if I can at all I hope to be at Leopardstown on Sunday.

I know I still have a lot to learn and will make plenty of mistakes in the future but I have great staff and a great team around me and I’m determined to do whatever I can to reach my goals. I genuinely believe that Gordon Elliott has the best staff any trainer in racing has got and I was very keen to follow suit and get good riders around the place and lads with loads of experience and I believe I’ve done that and they’ve helped me along the way and as good a start as we’ve had hopefully this is still only the start of a project that is only going to get better.