Joe Murphy on Cercene plans: 'The reaction has been overwhelming'

Cercene gave jockey Gary Carroll and trainer Joe Murphy an unforgettable day when bravely holding off French hotpot Zarigana to land the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, at odds of 33-1.

BoyleSports caught up with Murphy to get an update on future plans for his star filly as well as his best chance at this year’s Galway Races. You can find Galway Festival odds here.

Cercene is a fantastic story - the reaction has been overwhelming

Well, it's been overwhelming by the people of Tipperary, and especially Fethard. Everywhere I go in Ireland we're receiving all heartfelt congratulations.

It's a fantastic story. It's a lovely success for our family and for the people of Tipperary and the owners. It's just overwhelming and it's still going on. Anyway, I can't change that!

Today's news has to be, you know, another day too, you know. You just have to wait for that.

We haven’t had any important phone calls in the aftermath - we’re still a small yard

No, that won't happen! That never will. We're not a big yard. We're a small yard. have friendly owners and family owners.

I can see maybe that can happen at the sales. But we haven’t had an important phone call from anyone in the aftermath.

There's always another day and you have to prove yourself that Royal Ascot was not just a one-off. We feel we get the best out of every horse for every owner. That's our team.

We had to cut down the number of horses to increase wages for our staff to ensure we keep them

There's 30 [horses in the yard]. We had 50-55, but with the way staffing is in the racing industry, it's impossible. So, what we've done, we've cut down on numbers and increased our wages for them to ensure we get the good staff. Like Napoleon said to his troops, every soldier carries an officer’s knapsack. That means there is opportunity for all.

It is challenging for smaller yards to make their mark in racing - but every horse has a chance in any race

It is challenging, no question about it, for the number of pedigrees and wealth that's thrown at it.

But don't forget it's a race and every race you go into the stalls and if you win then that builds the value.

You mustn't forget that it's a race, so every horse has a chance.

To me, I think all horses are well bred today. It's just a matter of the more expensive owners getting the better pedigrees. But it’s a horse that makes a page (in terms of profile), a page doesn't make a horse.

The minute Cercene walked into the ring at the sales, I knew she had something about her

I bought her at the September yearling sales in Fairyhouse. The minute she walked in the door at the sales, I knew she had something about her. She's small, but that doesn't bother me. But her conformation and her athleticism were just overwhelming. And as I said, I didn't buy her, she bought me. That was it.

Our plan is to go to the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, then the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown, and then maybe the Breeders' Cup. They are the three races we've mapped out.

Cercene has to be the best we have had and I give credit to my son Joseph for her huge success

Well, she might be our first Group One winner, but Ardbrae Lady was second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, and third in the Moyglare, and Euphrasia was third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in 2014. So, we have had some good ones.

But on her record, Cercene has to be the best now.

I have to give credit to my son Joseph since he came on board. He has brought it to a certain level and really, he's the planner and he has brought my level to a higher pitch.

It's thanks to him really and my wife Carmel. When you're training horses, there's someone that has to keep everything on the level. She's good at all that. She runs the office.

If I didn’t have Joseph around, I probably would not be doing it now. That's the way things go.

It's a real family affair, no question about it. It's people and horses together. And then you get a result. That's it.

I go to the Yearling sales and I'm excited as I was when I first went with my father. As I’ve said before, I hope there is a Tattersalls and Goffs Sales in heaven!

You always have to live in hope. Every time you buy a yearling, you have to believe it's going to be a good one.

We had another big winner at the Ulster Derby - it was more than six months in the making for Vorfreude

We won the Ulster Derby with Vorfreude for Tom Egan who is a very good patron of mine. He's a lovely horse. He didn't win his maiden, but he learned from the experience to go in a handicap. That was the race we picked out last September. More often than not, these things don't work out. But this day, it did.

We trust our jockey Gary Carroll - we have moved on from his ban after Royal Ascot

Gary has been with me since he was a seven-pound claimer. We have a relationship where Gary comes down, he knows the horses. And we trust him, and you have to forgive. He was banned and fined at Royal Ascot, but we all make mistakes, and the thing is we're able to forgive each other, get over it and move on again.

What I look for when picking out a horse - basically, it is in the walk

Training racehorses over a lifetime you wonder why A is better than B? There are little signs. But basically, it's in the walk. The walk constitutes the gallop as a rule.

And then you go for conformation, a short back and a good eye, good ear.

Horses with a presence are nearly always the horses that you see in the winners’ enclosure. Now there are exceptions like Attraction, that good filly that Mark Johnston had.

They couldn't sell her, but she was a champion racehorse. So that's what gives us all a chance, gives us all hope.

My father used to name all his horses after machines he sold - one of them went on to win big in Ireland

My father was in the agricultural machinery business and the first horse he bought was with Willie O'Grady, a horse called Vicon, and then he called all the horses after machines he sold. Vicon, HayBob, Vibrax, were all machines that my father was selling, and he called the horses after them.

He had a horse called Smooth Dealer who won the Thyestes. And he always said he called him after himself!

Winning the Thyestes was like us winning the Coronation Stakes.

I always knew I would go into being a racing trainer as a career since I was a 13

Always. I knew nothing else. The minute I went into Willie O’Grady’s yard as a 13 year old, I knew this is what I wanted to do.

Every day is something new. Especially when you've a yearling coming into the art, it's like believing in Santa Claus again. You’ve always got to hope.

My Royal Ascot win shows that the little guy can compete in the big arena

Of course it does. It carries the torch for a man that has a horse, you know. It's like the horse and his kingdom, you know what I mean? If the horse is good enough, he gets a bigger kingdom.

We’ve been very lucky at Galway over the years - we have a couple we expect to run well this year at the Festival

We've been very lucky at Galway over the years. We've been fortunate there over the years and won a lot of races.

This year we have one or two who we expect to run well in Galway. The thing about Galway is the ground, you're always going to have an ease in the ground in Galway because you're catering for jumpers and flat horses on the same ground.

So, it's always going to be on the easy side of good. So, you can make your plan for Galway. I think we've had a winner nearly every year for the last ten.

To have a winner at Galway is remembered like having a winner at Ascot

Well, we used to have Tralee and Listowel. And Tralee is gone now, unfortunately. And I don't think it would take much to get Tralee back, because the track is still there.

But to have a winner in Galway is remembered like a winner in Ascot. It’s also like winning a Munster final in hurling.

Galway is always remembered. You know, it's a bit like Ascot and Goodwood and those meetings in England that you have.

It's amazing that Goodwood and Galway are in the same week.

Grey Leader is probably our best chance at Galway

It varies. You could plan on four or five, right? And by the time Galway comes you could only end up with two, or you could end up with the five. It would be somewhere between two and five.

If the ground turns up on an easy side in Galway, we're looking forward to Grey Leader. He'd probably be our best chance in Galway.

Racing is full of ups and downs - we lost a runner at Galway last year and coming home with an empty box is a very lonely place

Listen, as I always said, today's news wraps tomorrow's fish.

Racing is full of ups and downs, and you have more downs than ups, we all know that. But you appreciate the good days and do enjoy them. But then around the corner, there's always something else. Racing teaches you about life in a sporting way.

It teaches you all the mannerisms that go with it.

We got to Galway last year with a very good horse Sionnach Eile, and he looked like he was going to win his race.

But he broke his leg. So, you come home and you're coming home with an empty box and that's a very, very lonely place because you build up such a relationship with all your horses, that they're like family.

Everyone feels for him, but you have to look at that stable in the morning and the day after. You pass by and he's not there.

Horses are very responsible animals, they want to work and do right so we want them to enjoy themselves here

We break them very gently and always the first run we never ask much, never. We want to ensure that they've enjoyed our first day, and sometimes their second.

We don’t want them to associate racing with negativity. We try to get them to enjoy it. Horses are a very responsible animal. They want to work, and they want to do the right thing. So, you just introduce them to racing in a very easy way and they'll pick it up themselves.

If you stay close to the land you will never go wrong and that’s helped me in my training career

I like life. I like nature. I walk with my dogs, and I like swimming in the sea if the weather is good and coming home again. Little things like that.

If you live close to the land, close to nature, you’re very fortunate to live in the country, you're very much entwined with everything around you. You’re forced to learn why something is a certain colour. It's the wonders of life and animals and nature. If you stay close to the land, you'll never go too wrong.

That way of life is under threat, though

It is under threat, it's a pity. The magnitude of agriculture machinery, one machine, two tractors can do a thousand acres of corn there. Since the small square bale left, there's no communication with farm labourers and having the fun of making hay.

But at the same time, you have to move with modern times. That's the way the world is going and if you don't move with it, you'll be left behind.

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