'Long may it last' - Olly Murphy looking forward to Aintree as red-hot spell continues

There aren't many trainers in better form than Olly Murphy right now and he continued his great spell when Benassi produced a dominant display in the 2m novice handicap hurdle.

Operating at a 30 per cent strike-rate in the last fortnight, Olly Murphy heads to the Aintree festival in fine fettle and is hopeful the winning spree can continue for a little while longer.

"All the horses are in good nick, thank God, so long may it last as I've got a nice team of horses heading to Aintree and Ayr," Murphy said. "Hopefully it will keep raining, I think Scotland is due a lot of rain now for the next week and I hope we'll carry on getting some winter ground."

Benassi was winning for the second time over hurdles on his handicap debut, scoring by nine lengths under Lewis Stones, but Murphy is not certain he will run again this season.

"It was very good, he probably won a bad race but it was definitely a nice start. I'll see what the handicapper does with him, but he may be a horse who we save to go jumping fences next season," he said.

Terrific Trucker

The feature West Wales National went to the veteran Truckers Lodge, who was winning for the first time since landing the Midlands National over three years ago. The 11-year-old produced a dour staying performance, fending off Sidi Ismael by three and a quarter lengths under Freddie Gingell.

Tudor rules for Pipe

Jack Tudor rode his first winner for David Pipe since being confirmed as the stable's new number one jockey when Kepagge took the 2m4f handicap hurdle.

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