Cheltenham, Aintree, Punchestown, Leopardstown, he saddled major winners at them all. And Fairyhouse, where Brave Inca and Voler La Vedette won the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle.

Today, after a sabbatical, he is back in the big time, with Impervious a genuine contender in another of the Winter Festival’s three Grade Ones, the Baroneracing.com Racing Royal Bond Hurdle.

Brave Inca and Big Zeb garnered 16 Grade Ones between them, while Empire Of Dirt was his most recent Cheltenham winner in 2016, but six months later, he was announcing his retirement as a trainer.

He served as stewards’ secretary with the IHRB and did a bit of breeding, sales preparation, pre-training and trading, but never closed the door completely on training and, after building up a band of equine babies at his Wexford base, returned to the conditioning ranks in May 2019.

It was a slow process and he had to be patient, but you don’t start with a yard full of readymade stars. You buy, you build, and that’s at a budget. But he always backed his judgement.

Botani was the first winner back, holding off Zoffanien by a short head in a Cork handicap hurdle last April and, this term, he is already at six wins from just 43 runners. He has plenty of four-year-olds, a few he likes a lot, that will be unleashed either in point-to-points or bumpers.

The progressive five-year-old Aldo The Apache has supplied half his season’s tally. The rest are courtesy of another five-year-old, the imposing beauty that is Impervious.

“She always gave me hope,” says Murphy of his unbeaten star. “It’s one thing seeing that at home, it’s a completely different thing doing it on the track. It’s a big step up again on Sunday – it’s not a big step up, it’s a massive step up, but we’re hoping she’s still progressing.

 

“She was never the most straightforward lady, but she was a filly we’d done loads of schooling with. We thought a nice introduction over hurdles to keep her mind busy would be the way to start. If things hadn’t worked out over hurdles, she probably would have went for a bumper, but seeing as things worked out really well, it changed the whole programme for her.”

That was a maiden hurdle in Cork and she really advertised her ability when following up at Listowel’s Harvest Festival. The rate of her improvement is measured by the fact that her last success, in a Grade Three mares’ novice hurdle at Down Royal, was her easiest.

Taking on the boys at the highest sphere is a considerable step up, but she does have the mares’ allowance and the experience of three runs over hurdles.

Murphy was always willing to be patient and though externally people might have thought his return was lacking in fireworks, he was in it for the long haul.

“You can only run them when they tell you. Of course, I’d love to have a yard of ready-to-rock proper nice, graded horses.

“Hopefully, we’ll find a few along the way, or we’ll always have a box for one if someone wants to send them, but it was always going to be a slow-burner.

“They’re all bought as youngsters, and it’s nice that they’re coming through. We seem to be buying the right ones.

“We don’t keep them long when they’re no good. We don’t be long shifting them on. It’s quality we want, but you need numbers to get quality. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but if they’ve a bit of ability at all, I think we’re as good as anyone to get it out of them.”

 

There have been a few enquiries about Impervious, but not the right number yet, evidently.

“She’s exactly what we’ve been looking to find through our business model. It’s nice to have a runner with a realistic chance. Over the years, you get the experience to deal with the big days better, but you do get nervous. I was the same in Down Royal, but I enjoyed that. I knew it meant a little bit more even than any other winner we had. So you do get a kick out of it.

“The only problem is, when you get a little taste of it, you want more!”