PATIENCE A VIRTUE FOR MURPHY

Ferdy Murphy does not want much for Christmas - just the opportunity to run his horses.

However, the master of Wynbury Stables is playing the waiting game with great success.

Murphy`s highly successful training operation is expanding rapidly and deals with 90 horses - from less than half that total two years ago.

However, every decision taken is made with an eye to the future.

'We`ve built up a bit quicker than we had planned for,' Murphy confessed.

'Of the 90 that we have in right now, only about 20 are handicappers which means we have 70 horses who are novices and are being trained with the future in mind.

'A lot of them are big, nice horses and we should have a lot to look forward to if we do the job right.'

But even a man for whom patience is a watchword has his limits.

'I`m getting a bit fed up with the weather,' he admitted.

'The horses are ready and I keep finding myself, literally, all dressed up with nowhere to go.

'Fortunately we have a wood-chip gallop on the High Moor which has been spot-on every day so we haven`t had to miss any work. That can make a big difference.'

One horse whose campaign has been affected by the recent spate of abandonments is Ballinclay King, whose season is being geared towards a tilt at the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

He was due to run on Monday at Kelso under stable-jockey Adrian Maguire until the meeting fell foul of the elements.

'He`ll now go to Wetherby for a two-miler on the 27th,' revealed the West Witton trainer.

'He seems in great order and we are keen to step him up in trip, Adrian thinks he will stay all right but we are still looking at the Arkle for him.

'In the long-term he is a very exciting horse.

'He ran a great race in the Coral Cup at the Festival last year, I think if Adrian could ride the race again maybe he wouldn`t have hit the front so soon but he was travelling so well.

'To be fair we had already written the season off as we knew he`d be better over fences and then to finish second in the Scottish Champion was an extra bonus.'

Other horses ready to run include chasers Ackzo and Paddy`s Return.

Both hold engagements in the Coral Eurobet Welsh National at Chepstow on December 27 but could sidestep the race with the going likely to be on the bottomless side of bottomless.

'We ran Ackzo at Haydock last time and Adrian warned me that the going was as soft as he had ever ridden on,' Murphy said.

'So I said that he should pull him up if he wasn`t enjoying it. I think they went about a mile in the end. The horse hated it and he won`t run on that sort of ground again, we`ll wait until the spring if we need to.

'Ackzo and Paddy`s are both basically good-ground horses so we might just have to wait until the weather improves.

'Granit d`Estruval looks a decent staying horse, and April Allegro will need a run to get him ready for the race that was the Ladbroke next month.'

Hindiana, one of two horses that Murphy trains for Paul Green, will also be running again before long having made a good impression on his British debut at Musselburgh.

'He looks like he`s got an engine but our options are a bit limited as he`s rated 150 over fences because of his French form,' Murphy said. 'He`ll have to stay over hurdles this season, I would imagine.'

It is the long-term ethos of the yard which has enabled Murphy to deal so well with the injury suffered by Major Ivan Straker`s Scottish Grand National winner Paris Pike, who was widely expected to have been the stable`s flag-bearer for this season.

The eight-year-old suffered a slight tendon injury before making it to the racecourse and his trainer gave up the struggle to get him back for racing action this season.

'I`m very happy with how he`s going and you could say that with the way that the weather has gone it was something of a blessing in disguise,' he said.

'We will take plenty of time with him, he is being walked out three times a day on a hand-rein to keep him occupied and he gets a good pick of grass.

'He could go to the stud in Wexford in the spring for a change of scenery but that will be the Major`s decision.

'I`m still looking at the Gold Cup for him. He`ll retain his ability and he`s done nothing to blunt his speed.

'But the important thing is that we`ll take our time with him and get it right.'

There is no doubting the fire that burns in Murphy`s belly when it comes to his ambition to train a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.

But the remarkable thing is that not only does he have one for 2002`s race, but he also another one waiting in the wings.

'If I`ve ever trained a young horse I thought would make up into a Gold Cup horse then this is the one,' he revealed.

His name is Truckers Tavern.

Anyone who stuck it out through the driving rain and the chilling wind at Wetherby in October on Charlie Hall Chase day would have been warmed by the performance they saw when a well-backed Truckers Tavern, making his debut under Rules, blew his rivals away to win the concluding novice hurdle.

A winner of three Irish point-to-points, he came to Britain for the not inconsiderable sum of 50,000 guineas, bought by Ray Scholey.

But in keeping with the cautious approach of the yard, he may not race again this season as connections get him cherry-ripe for a chasing campaign in 2001/2.

'He is a massive horse, huge for a five-year-old,' revealed Murphy.

'He has a very good owner who buys chasers rather than hurdlers and that is where his future lies.

'Ray is a Yorkshireman, so he wouldn`t part with his money without good reason!

'It may be that he has done enough for the season already - I wouldn`t be surprised if we decide to keep him back.

'Adrian schooled him over hurdles and fences at home when he arrived and said `Let`s give him a run over hurdles and see how he does but he is a born chaser`.

'He hadn`t done a lot of work but we were all knocked back when he jumped like a handicapper and won by a street from another one of mine, Supreme Breeze - who went out and won next time - and the third and the fourth have won since too.'

Some trainers set out each year to win as many races as they can in as short a time as possible.

But when the others are rushing to open their presents and find out exactly what they have got, Ferdy Murphy will be keeping his good things under wraps.