‘He made me the man I am today’ - how Gordon Elliott shaped Olly Murphy’s blossoming career

Olly Murphy has credited Gordon Elliott with turning him into the relentlessly driven trainer focused on getting to the top, following a five-year spell at Cullentra that convinced Murphy of his career path.

Murphy was speaking to the Racing Post for a major interview in Sunday’s newspaper in which he reflected on his drive to build again on last season’s personal best of 141 winners, his guilt at failing to provide stable jockey Sean Bowen with a Grade 1 winner last season and his hopes of victory in next weekend’s Coral Gold Cup at Newbury.

Murphy’s mother, Anabel, was also a trainer, but the 34-year-old felt he needed to get away from home to discover his drive for the same profession.

"I needed to get away," he said. "I was an only child, probably a bit spoiled, went to private school – although not a very posh one – and had a fantastic upbringing, but at 16 I needed to stand on my own two feet.

"I had to go and see something different, live on a wage that made you get to Thursday evening and think, 'Thank f*** it's payday tomorrow'.”

Murphy started with Alan King and recalled: “I had rent to pay and a car to fill up, like every normal person, and that did me good. I'd be first in the yard in the morning, working hard for what I got, and I like to think that hasn't changed. If everyone in your yard has got that drive, you'll do okay."

However, his most formative experience of all would come when he travelled across the Irish Sea to join Elliott.

"I went round Cullentra with my eyes and ears open for five years, and by the end of that I knew which way I wanted to go," said Murphy.

"Gordon has done it the hard way himself and he made me the man I am today. He taught me how to live and how to work, how to stay level when you win and when you lose – his only problem is that he has to wake up every morning and worry about Willie Mullins."

Read more from Olly Murphy in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Racing Post+ Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday.

Read more . . .

'I feel like we haven't even got going yet' - in-form Olly Murphy aiming higher after breaking into the top five in trainers' table 

A better race than the Gold Cup? Stellar field of 11 stand their ground for Sunday's blockbuster John Durkan 

What Ed and Lizzie did next: Valentine Bloodstock hunting for racing prospects to stay in France for Plantagenet Syndicate 

Subscribe to Racing Post+ Ultimate now