WHILE Westmeath’s gaelic footballers have been riding a memorable wave in recent weeks - now on the cusp of a crucial Croke Park decider against Dublin this weekend - sporting momentum has also been building around a yard right in the heart of The Lake County.
Racing TV’s Gary O’Brien described Ciaran Murphy as “a man for all seasons” after the dual-purpose trainer’s Halon Bay captured a seven-furlong maiden at Leopardstown last Sunday. It’s not hard to see why that moniker makes sense after a series of encouraging results lately.
Take a weekend just last month, for example. Less than 24 hours on from landing his first British winner in a Grade 3 handicap chase on Scottish Grand National day with Moudan, Murphy had a two-year-old finish second on debut in a maiden over six furlongs at the Curragh, chasing home the early Coventry Stakes favourite, Great Barrier Reef.
A couple of hours later, he was striking under a different code again, sending out veteran Macs Charm to win a three-mile open at his local Castletown-Geoghegan point-to-point. Other weekends have featured five-furlong sprint winners and first-time-out National Hunt four-year-olds collecting between the flags. Versatility has been a theme at the Mullingar yard.
It’s only been five years since the former amateur rider began training under his own licence at Charlestown Stud. He had spent the previous 25 years working alongside the inimitable Dot Love - one of only five women in history to train the winner of the Irish Grand National, and still an essential part of the operation today.
The recent greenshoots at home and in Britain follow a productive 2025 for the trainer, who cut his teeth in eventing circles. Last year saw Murphy send out double the number of winners he registered a year earlier, 20 under both codes in 2025, and a bright start to the current campaign is only fuelling his appetite to compete at higher levels.
“We’re ambitious as a yard, we want to keep improving, and there’s a lovely feeling around the place with how the horses have been running,” says Murphy.
“Everyone is working hard and having a winner like Moudan at Ayr came as a great boost to us all. We’ve actually had huge feedback from it. I suppose it came on a day when plenty of people were watching, and those winners are important when we’re not dealing with huge numbers of horses for the big days.
“Whatever about the impact for us, I was so delighted for Pat [McCormack] and Sarah [Glynn, owner-breeders], who have been massive supporters of mine for a long time. They backed us to make the trip with the horse once we were eager to target the race, and I took great confidence from knowing we had Sean Bowen on our side. Everyone knows what an asset he is, especially with his record around Ayr, and the rain came just in time for us.”
Making changes
On the dynamic of a yard split between flat and National Hunt, Murphy adds: “We set out to be dual-purpose and we’ve definitely become even more mindful of training for the two codes differently in the last year or so. With the help of my brother Aaron in the yard and all the staff, I think we can train those different types in their own way.
“We had a quieter year than we obviously wanted a couple of seasons ago and I feel that time was a huge learning curve for me in terms of training. After looking at all the angles of what we were doing, I’d like to think we’ve changed the way we train the horses now, especially the two-year-olds. I think we’re seeing the benefit of some of those changes with how the last 18 months or so have gone for us. We invested in about a dozen flat yearlings last year too.
“You can’t underestimate the importance of having good staff and good riders. Gordon Elliott told me a long time ago that good riders make good horses, and I’m a big believer in that. We’re also lucky to have the goodwill of Mark Fagan with Deravarra Gallops nearby, and our neighbours at Tally Ho Stud have been extremely generous to us. They’ve allowed us to use their gallops facility and I have no doubt it has been a help to our horses.
“We have a lovely set-up to train where we are at Charlestown and there are plans to develop that further in the near future. The more winners we have, hopefully that will allow us to keep reinvesting in what we have.”
Steps In The Sand brought up a hat-trick of wins when completing a double for the stable at last year's Galway Festival \ Healy Racing
Murphy had just over 50 individual runners across flat and National Hunt races last year, but - like any trainer in Ireland with a commercial focus - he has generally been prompted to sell his best stock once they show form. Having personally been involved in race planning with the yard in recent seasons, I have seen first hand the dilemmas facing connections in those instances.
Dupont Law, a striking mile maiden winner on the first day of the season last year at the Curragh, worked out a value yearling purchase at just €37,000 by Murphy and leading agent Ross Doyle. The son of Le Havre was held in top regard by the trainer, but was reported to have sold for many multiples of that figure to North America last spring.
Another three-year-old, Bottler’secret, was sold privately after back-to-back wins in a Galway Festival maiden and Naas handicap. Found by Murphy at just €16,000 as a yearling, he went on to win Grade 2 and Grade 3 juvenile hurdles on his first two starts for Gavin Cromwell (also runner-up at Grade 1 level).
Over jumps, smart stayer Deep Cave, who just missed the cut for this year’s Grand National but has grabbed a brace of valuable Grade 3 handicaps at Aintree and Ascot for Christian Williams, won his point-to-point on debut for Murphy. He was sold for £235,000. Fergal O’Brien’s recent listed hurdle winner Dream Shadow is also a Charlestown graduate (sold for £100,000 after a first-time-out pointing win).
International angles
Additionally, Murphy has sold some of his promising flat youngsters unraced to the Far East in recent years. Charity Gain, sourced for £25,000 as a yearling, was traded without a run to Hong Kong, where he has earned just shy of €350,000 in prize money. In recent weeks, an unraced Zoustar two-year-old (bought for €45,000 in Book 1 of last year’s Goffs Orby Yearling Sale) has changed hands to race in the same jurisdiction after showing early potential at home.
“We try to work the sales hard, do our catalogue prep beforehand and aim to see as many horses as possible,” says Murphy, a qualified carpenter by trade who built his own home.
“We’re obviously not working off massive budgets and that means you have to be a little bit flexible on what you’re buying. We’ve had some nice luck with sires that mightn’t be at the top of everyone’s lists.
“Other times, we’ve bought horses knowing we’d have to wait on them and give them more time than others might ideally want, but, within reason, we’re willing to do that when you can see the potential of a nice horse in there. It varies case by case, but I’d describe the type of horse we look for as a trainer’s horse; one that mightn’t tick every box for everyone at the sale, but one we feel we can work with as an individual.”
On the balance of trading and retaining horses, he adds: “You have to be conscious that the day you buy is the day you sell. There’s always an eye on the commercial market, though we do have a few owners who are happy to keep their horses with us if we find a nice type. Hopefully, that side of the yard can develop further in time, because we do want to have a mix of commercial stock and horses to run for us in those better races.”
There was a time when Murphy was best known for breaking and pre-training the lion’s share of Gigginstown House Stud’s young National Hunt stars. Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Don Cossack and War Of Attrition, and Grand National winners Tiger Roll and Rule The World, are among the best-known stayers to have passed through his hands.
Murphy’s business model changed significantly in 2019, though, when Michael O’Leary announced a scaling back of racing interests and that no more stores were to be purchased. It meant no new stock would be sent to Murphy from the local owners. Similarly, the yard played a significant part in the production line of Paul and Clare Rooney’s jumpers before the prominent owners shifted their focus away from National Hunt racing in 2020.
While racing and training is undoubtedly Murphy’s primary focus, he has recently developed a fresh partnership with Coolmore’s National Hunt division to assist with breaking and pre-training of smartly-bred youngsters. A number have been prepared with Coolmore’s ambitious aim of unearthing a stallion son of their champion National Hunt sire Walk In The Park.
From a small number of runners on the track so far, the initial fruits of the link-up have seen early-season hurdles winners in France for the leading organisation, as well as a recent blacktype winner in Britain.
Coolmore link
“We’ve had a very good experience over these first couple of years with the Coolmore team and the people around the operation; the likes of Paddy Fleming, Gerry Aherne and David Wachman,” Murphy explains.
“It’s lovely to be involved in any part of their National Hunt programme and we’re keen to continue working with them as a team. A couple of the fillies we pre-trained ran in those colours for us in the HRI Academy Hurdles earlier this season, and it was brilliant to see one of them, Queen Maeve, go on to win a Grade 3 handicap hurdle at Sandown with Dan Skelton the other day. I think there’s another nice batch of horses coming through for them, so hopefully that will continue to be a successful avenue for everyone.”
Wild Bill Hickok (red and white silks) takes flight on his way to an 11-length chasing debut win at Wexford \ Healy Racing
It was the same link with Coolmore that led to one of Murphy’s recent winners in his own name. Wild Bill Hickok spent time in the midlands base as a youngster before joining Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm, winning first time out at Auteuil as a three-year-old and soon landing a listed hurdle at the same venue.
After the coltish hurdler somewhat lost his way, the opportunity came to buy back the Walk In The Park colt at public auction. He ultimately came Murphy’s way for €52,000 last November. On his second start since returning to Ireland, the blacktype hurdler took advantage of an attractive four-year-old allowance to win a two-mile beginners’ chase by 11 lengths at Wexford last week.
It was Murphy’s first winner for Grade 1-winning owner Paddy Sheanon, who has recently become involved with the yard.
“We obviously knew him as a young horse and I spoke to Gerry Aherne about him once he came up for sale at Arqana,” says Murphy, 49.
“We bought him on spec at the time, and Paddy came on board straight away when we mentioned the horse to him. That’s when we knew Paddy was serious about supporting us. There was a lovely feeling around that for me; that he trusted us to buy a relatively cheap horse with that profile.
“We had a target in mind when we bought him, and an early part of that was to win a beginners’ chase straight away in the new season. There’s a real thrill in fulfilling those plans, and hopefully he can build on that through the year. He’s declared for Wexford [today] in quite a hot novice chase. He’s only four, so we’d like to get more chasing experience into him before his main target this summer in the Grade 3 novice chase at the Galway Festival.”
While the latest chapter for the yard has offered plenty to celebrate for Murphy, it has fallen during a time when one of his greatest supporters is sadly no longer alongside him. The sudden passing of local owner-breeder Liam Gavin at the age of 71 last October was a major loss for everyone associated with the stable. The lifelong racing follower was regularly seen alongside Murphy at tracks across the country.
Loyal supporter
Gavin’s finest exploits as a horseman may have come through his home-bred seven-time winner Bridge Native (earned Grade 2 blacktype), but victory for his part-owned Titanium on the final day of the 2025 flat season at the Curragh was surely his most poignant.
With the €50,000 premier handicap taking place right in the middle of Liam’s wake in his family home, all his closest relations closed the doors to mourners queuing at the house for a few moments in order to watch the race live. There was understandably an immense outpouring of emotion when the French recruit stormed home to record his first win of the season at 12/1, greeted by cheers and tears inside the Gavin family home.
A number of Liam’s friends travelled to the Curragh to support the horse in his absence, and they returned with a picture of the win to place alongside his coffin.
“Nobody could write what happened that day,” says Murphy, the twin brother of Irish Olympic eventing rider Joseph. “It was beyond special and I’ll never forget it. Liam and all the family have been huge supporters of mine and we miss him dearly; not only for his support of the yard, but for the great friend he was to us all.
“To be honest, I probably miss him more than ever in the last few weeks, because I know how much he’d be loving seeing these winners for us. You couldn’t find a more loyal friend and confidant than Liam. He’s always in our thoughts.”
Murphy adds: “We’re so lucky to have a great base of owners in the yard. It’s something that’s been noticed by several people involved in horses here that, when one owner has a winner, it almost feels like it’s a winner for every owner in the place. There’s brilliant camaraderie and friendships between them.”
Relishing the challenge
The battle for small to medium-sized trainers to hold their own in an ultra-competitive Irish training landscape has been extensively discussed in recent years, especially so with the growing dominance of super-scale stables over jumps. However, it is that very challenge, to compete with those renowned operations, that is spurring Murphy on to raise his own standards.
“I was actually only thinking about this the other day,” he reflects.“A few years ago, I went to Ger Lyons’ for the morning and had a fantastic time with him. I came home with a fire in my belly, thinking how fantastic an insight it was with Ger. That day gave me a lot in terms of how I thought about training horses.
“Likewise, this year, I went to Ballydoyle for a morning and was delighted to spend a bit of time with Aidan. The whole experience gave me that same fire again. I came away driving out the gates feeling certain that this game, training racehorses, is exactly where I want to be.
“This is what I want to do; I want to get better, I want to make the most of every horse I have. I understand they’re not the quality of what the likes of Ger and Aidan have, but I want to get the best results I can for the owners and ourselves.
“To have people of their stature - operating at the top of the sport - who are generous to share their knowledge and time with you… I think Irish racing is a great place to be in when you have people who will do that for others. Yes, it’s difficult, and yes, it’s competitive, but I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. It’s a great challenge to face up to.”
Just like the sizeable task facing the Westmeath footballers in the capital this weekend, Murphy is up for the fight. He wants to be in it for the long haul.
Dot Love
“What can you say about Dot? She’s an unbelievable role model. On any given day someone comes into the yard, there’s every chance they’ll arrive to find Dot pushing a pink wheelbarrow around the place with something in it, probably coming from mucking out a box or bringing in shavings, and it’s highly likely there’ll be three dogs following along behind her.
“She keeps the staff in tow and is an incredible person to have on our side. Dot keeps an eye on everything, and does it without ever coming across as obtrusive. She’s a great presence and a brilliant people-person. From top to bottom, she treats everyone with respect.”
What’s next for Moudan
“It’s been very pleasing to see how he’s progressed over the last couple of seasons. We had a crack at being competitive in maiden hurdles early on in his career and he didn’t quite meet that level then; he ended up rated lowly enough [93] over hurdles. We gave him time to mature, though, and he’s just improved and improved all the way along. He’s up to 139 over fences now.
“That obviously will make life tougher for him, but hopefully we’ll have a nice campaign ahead later in the year. We know he loves getting onto heavy ground.”
A potential Irish Guineas weekend runner
“We’re hoping to run a horse we bought at last year’s Tattersalls Autumn Horse-In-Training Sales called Puppet Master next weekend. He won the Lingfield Derby Trial for Aidan [O’Brien] last year and we’ve given him time since we tried him in the deep end for his first start over hurdles at Christmas.
“He seems to be in good form and is a horse with some smart runs to his name. He might start off in the Listed Orby Stakes over a mile and a half next Saturday and we’re looking forward to hopefully seeing him progress throughout the year.”