'There’s no secret stuff with Aidan' - inside Ballydoyle with the 'accidental hire' who travels Coolmore's champions
Conor Fennelly catches up with Ballydoyle's travelling head lad Kieran Murphy
Whether you’re surrounded by muffled serenity at a nondescript floodlit evening at Dundalk or a cacophony of pomp at the Breeders’ Cup, if you see a Ballydoyle horse ambling around before or after their exertions, there's always the familiar face of one of the travelling head lads in tow.
The likes of Kieran Murphy and Pat Keating seem omnipresent at Ireland's marquee occasions on the Flat and part of the furniture of the country's premier tracks, namely the Curragh and Leopardstown, the two arenas for this weekend's Irish Champions Festival.
It's human nature to rarely acknowledge constants but given how entrenched they are in our pre- and post-race viewing experience, we would notice something awry if they weren't in the vicinity of a Delacroix or an Illinois this weekend. Theirs is a comforting presence.
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Copy- 'You probably only get five proper darts at a big race each year, so you have to deliver - and I think I've got a massive chance'
- ‘I’ve never had to deal with that in my career and I did find it hard - you start asking yourself what you’re doing wrong’
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- ‘I miss the craic of going racing but it’s a young person’s game these days - and I don’t know how they survive, to be honest’
- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'
- 'You probably only get five proper darts at a big race each year, so you have to deliver - and I think I've got a massive chance'
- ‘I’ve never had to deal with that in my career and I did find it hard - you start asking yourself what you’re doing wrong’
- ‘I’ll be there to see the kids open their presents but then it’s a coffee, bang, out the door’ - life in a racing yard at Christmas
- ‘I miss the craic of going racing but it’s a young person’s game these days - and I don’t know how they survive, to be honest’
- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'