Sensational form of Murphy stable being fuelled by Battery Power

Richard Marriott knows enough about the game to realise you have to cherish the times when your luck’s in, and the owner-breeder is enjoying a red-hot patch of form courtesy of his beloved broodmare Battery Power and trainer Mike Murphy.

Marriott, who first became involved in racing 35 years ago, runs his horses under the name of Sarabex, an anagram of his two daughters, Sarah and Rebecca, and currently owns three homebreds from Battery Power, a dual-winning daughter of Royal Applause.

He said: "Racing's a game of two halves really as you have the huge owners who can mop up everything but also the small people such as ourselves, and it's lovely when you have success.

"We've been very lucky with our horses, not many haven't been in the frame over the years, whereas sometimes people can wait years for a winner. But it's a sport you've got to go in thinking you'll get no return from. Any return you do get is a great surprise and nothing can replace the feeling of joy when you get a winner.

"We're not very business-like - the horses are loved too much! - and anything we breed out of Battery Power will always be called Velvet something. Unless anyone offers us silly money, we breed the horses to race ourselves and have that enjoyment."

On how he first came to have horses in training with Murphy, he explained: "I moved the horses to Mike when Mark Tompkins retired; the horses have all been raised at Dullingham Park Stud, which is run by Mark and Angie Tompkins.

"I got involved with them around 12 or 13 years ago through a small syndicate start-up, and then in the space of a few years we had 22 winners with Mark."

The team's latest red-hot run of form is due in no small part to Battery Power, the dam of three winners from as many runners in Velvet Voice, Velvet Vision and Velvet Vista, who is three from four this year and entered at Lingfield on Friday.

Velvet Vista and trainer Mike MurphyCredit: Richard Marriott

Marriott continued: "We were looking for a trainer after Mark's retirement and came to the conclusion that Mike Murphy was the answer, with the exception of Velvet Voice, who's with Stuart Edmunds as she went chasing.

"Battery Power is the dam of the three Velvets to have run so far and we have got a two-year-old Nathaniel colt with Mike named Velvet Vulcan, who is a full-brother to Velvet Vision."

Velvet Vision is now a three-time winner in all, remarkably so given she sustained a severe head injury before reaching the track, with vets giving her a mere five per cent chance of survival.

Marriott recalled: "She hit her head on the upper part of the stable door before she raced and it was extremely serious. If it hadn't been for the love and attention of Mark, she wouldn't have survived.

"He told me to come straight to Rossdales as it really wasn't certain she'd survive. The first question, of course, was what were her survival chances, and the vet said five per cent. We did all we could for her and, thanks to the team there, managed to save her."

Happily, the now six-year-old has taken to racing with aplomb and has struck twice and finished second in three starts since moving to Murphy's yard early last year.

Marriott said: "She finished second at Newcastle on her debut at three and then won when returning there. Having fallen ill, it wasn't until we got her to Mike's that she was fit to run again. He’d had her for less than 14 days when she won at Southwell, and then she backed it up at Chelmsford."

Velvet Vision is back in training after picking up a small injury, and there could be plenty more to celebrate too as Battery Power has a yearling Intello filly on the ground and is carrying to Darley's promising second-season sire Territories.

Marriott said: "Battery Power has a yearling filly by Intello and is in foal to Territories. She's due about April, which probably would mean she'd need a barren year.”

Bedfordshire-based Murphy is Britain’s hottest trainer, with five winners from his last six runners and 12 winners this year already from just 23 runners - only one of whom has finished outside the first four.

Marriott is delighted to be a part of it and added: "Mike’s away from the hubbub of Newmarket, where it can get quite congested, and has got his own gallops. The horses are treated as individuals and it's a tranquil setting to train.

"He really instils great confidence in you and it's been a real purple patch for the team."

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