Massive Windfall For Murphy As Curragh Maiden Winner Is Sold To America

[Wandering Eyes]

Recent Curragh maiden winner Dupont Law (Ire) (Le Havre {Ire}) is the latest high-class prospect to have been sold to continue his career abroad, with his handler Ciaran Murphy explaining that such a windfall is now needed every year in order to survive in the training ranks in Ireland. 

Dupont Law was split three ways between Murphy, bloodstock agent Ross Doyle and owner William Drew, whose red and white silks were carried by the three-year-old to victory in that 1m Curragh maiden last month. 

While Murphy says he derived just as much pleasure from the confidence he gained in sending out a Curragh maiden winner, he admitted that such a touch came just in time, and that the earnings from the sale would help keep his Mullingar-based stable on “the straight and narrow” for the foreseeable future. 

Dupont Law was shrewdly acquired by Murphy and Doyle during the Book 2 session of the Goffs Orby Sale for just €37,000. It is understood that the horse sold for many multitudes of that figure to Bloodstock agent Mark McStay on behalf of American clients while the Australian market were underbidders on the horse. 

“From a financial point of view, we could have done with this touch last autumn, but we did right by the horse and let him develop into the three-year-old that we thought he'd be,” the trainer explained. 

“He always shaped like a mile-and-a-quarter/mile-and-a-half horse on the Flat so we knew he'd be very marketable this spring. The satisfaction that came with waiting and getting everything right with him was just as good as getting the money to be honest.”

Murphy added, “I'll be totally honest, unless you get a proper touch like this every year, you're going to struggle as a trainer. The training business is only wiping its face right now. The cost of everything has gone up even in the past three or four years. You need a lot of staff in order to do the job properly-more so than in other industries-and the price of everything has gone up. If you can keep your head above water in this game, you're probably doing well and then, if you can get a touch, it's that bit sweeter.”

Ross Doyle | Tattersalls

The sale of Dupont Law represents another sweet bit of business for Murphy and Doyle. The relationship got off to the best possible start when Murphy recommended an unraced horse to Doyle a number of years ago and the pair have done an increased amount of business together ever since with Dupont Law the culmination of such. 

Murphy explained, “I started to do business with Ross about five or six years ago. He's bought some very nice horses off me and took my word on them all. When Ross approached me about getting involved in one or two horses, I was absolutely thrilled because I knew he was easy to work with and an absolute gentleman. It was a big thing for me to get involved with Ross initially. He's been a big help to me and, with the client base he has, he's been a huge addition.”

He added, “Ross bought a Twilight Son (GB) [Charity Gain (Ire)] horse off me for Hong Kong a few years ago. He was a lovely, big horse who hadn't run, but Ross had an order for Hong Kong and he took my word that this horse was good enough to fill it. The horse has gone on to win two valuable races out there so I think that gave Ross confidence and it also gave me a huge amount of confidence as well. Bottler'secret (Ire) (Dragon Pulse {Ire}) came along after that–Ross bought him after he won at Naas and he ended up winning a Grade 2 over hurdles for his new connections. There were a few little bits in between but I have always had a good vibe off Ross.”

While Doyle has supplied Murphy with plenty of ammunition in recent times, it's the trainer who actually deserves the most credit in spotting Dupont Law at the sales. And while the €37,000 spent on the backward-looking Le Havre yearling, who was bred by the Tsui family's Sunderland Holding Inc, is more than the trainer usually spends at the sales, Murphy recalled how he was in good company on the horse. 

“When I spotted him, I knew the type of horse that Ross likes, and I just said to him that we'd go in after this lad and try to buy him. Listen, I loved Dupont Law when I saw him and Bill Dwan from Castlebridge recommended him highly so it was a no-brainer. Noel Meade was the underbidder so we knew we were in the right space. That has actually happened to me plenty down through the years, falling on the same horse as Noel Meade. We clearly like the same type of horse. We paid €37,000, which is a bit more than I would usually give for a horse, but we really liked him and thankfully it has worked out.”

He added, “Ross rang me an hour after we bought the horse to tell me that his friend William would be interested in taking a third. So we split the horse three ways. That was William's first horse with us and I'm just over the moon that it worked out for him.”

It's not long ago that Murphy's Charlestown Stables was mostly made up of National Hunt horses. Who could forget Liberty Counsel winning the Irish Grand National for the stable back in 2013 when Dot Love still held the licence? Murphy only took over the training officially in 2021 but there has been a steady diversification towards more Flat runners with the stable's tally climbing from six winners on the level in that debut season to eight last year. Murphy admits that he would like to continue to grow the Flat side of the operation and, while the sale of Dupont Law will be a massive help in that respect, he won't be going gung ho at the yearling sales either. 

He explained, “We only bought a handful of yearlings last year. For what we were looking for, we just found that we weren't able to buy them. We just didn't have the money there to go out and speculate and I don't have a backer to do that. So when I buy one, I usually keep a share myself. That's the way I work it. And then you can only just hope that some of them will work out. We bought a couple of yearlings last year but we're going to have to wait for them because I love the mile/mile-and-a-quarter horse. As we saw with Dupont Law, there's a big market to Hong Kong, Australia and America for the mile-plus horse and then there's also quite a lucrative market to sell a juvenile hurdler so it's just an area that makes a lot of sense. 

“I'd be quite reserved financially because you never know what's around the corner! There's always bills that need to be paid! But definitely, this will help us to get on the straight and narrow. Winning a Curragh maiden is a big help to me, too, because when you go to the sales, people know that you can achieve that. I'd be very hopeful that, when the yearling sales come around in the autumn, there will be a few people there to tap me on the shoulder. That's where I want to be. I'd love to have a nice batch of Flat horses coming through every year.”

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