THEN assistant to Gordon Elliott, Olly Murphy endeared himself to northern racing fans when, on the panel for the 2016 Jonjo Bright Minerstown Tavern Cheltenham Festival Preview fundraiser, he advised them to back Diamond King in the Coral Cup and the Elliott-trained gelding duly obliged at 12/1.

Many of those punters have since followed with interest Murphy’s own training career at his family’s Warren Chase Stables near Stratford on Avon. And they have had an added reason to do so since mid-August when Downpatrick-born Gerard Tumelty took up the position as an assistant trainer at the Warwickshire yard.