'It's unheard of' - Thomas Darby camp want rain for Long Distance repeat bid

Olly Murphy is hopeful Thomas Darby can repeat last year's Long Distance Hurdle success on Friday but is looking for some assistance from the weather to ease conditions at Newbury.

Clerk of the course Keith Ottesen said on Sunday that the track was "like a thirsty hippo" and the outlook has not altered despite 10mm of rain on Monday, with irrigation continuing to maintain the going as good.

Thomas Darby has won twice on ground with that description, but his best performances have come with give underfoot and Murphy has indicated he would like the three-mile race to be a proper test of stamina.

"He's in good form, but we're hoping the forecast rain arrives as I'd like it to be a little bit easier than watered good ground," Murphy said.

"I'm very keen to run him but it would want to be very safe ground. Watering ground in the middle of November is unheard of, but I'm sure a lot of other people in the race will be in the same boat as me.

Thomas Darby: trainer Olly Murphy hoping for rain before FridayCredit: Edward Whitaker

"We'll see what the week brings, but if it was very quick I wouldn't run him. Hopefully Newbury will do a good job, which I'm sure they will."

With the rain that is due to arrive on Wednesday and Thursday unlikely to be heavy, Ottesen doesn't expect the underfoot conditions to become any softer.

"We have good ground today [Tuesday]. We had 4mm of rain on Sunday and 10mm on Monday and we'll continue watering throughout the week to stop it from drying out too much," Ottesen said.

"We're expecting a dry day today, some rain on Wednesday morning and then there is another band of rain forecast on Thursday night, but none of it is in huge quantities. Nonetheless, it is helpful.

"I don't envisage it being any softer than good, so we'll just keep maintaining that with a bit of irrigation right the way through to Friday morning."

Thomas Darby reappeared in the West Yorkshire Hurdle last month, just as he did before taking the Newbury race last year, and Murphy is hopeful of improvement. Although, he believes Wetherby winner Proschema will prove tough opposition again.

Proschema beats Thomas Darby by ten lengths at Wetherby last monthCredit: Steve Davies

"He came out of Wetherby well and we're looking forward to running him. It looks a competitive race, but hopefully he'll be able to defend his crown from last year," Murphy said.

"Proschema was a decisive winner on the day at Wetherby and we're going to have our work cut out to beat him.

"We were good around Newbury last year and if we can turn it into a proper staying race as we did then, it would be interesting, but Proschema will be hard to beat now on the form that he turned up to Wetherby with."

A first tilt at the Stayers' Hurdle could be on the cards in March for Thomas Darby, who will be aged ten by then.

"We'll get Friday out of the way first before we decide on the Stayers', but I imagine he'll go to Ascot for the Long Walk Hurdle if he runs well at Newbury. March is a long way away, but it would be nice to think we can win something with him before then," Murphy said.

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