New trainer Murphy fined over Market Rasen non-runners

Olly Murphy’s storming start as a trainer hit some turbulence on Sunday when he was described as having “disregard for the interests of racegoers” when declaring three of his five runners in the final race at Market Rasen non-runners.

Gold Class became Murphy’s second winner – and first over jumps –from just four runners when capturing the concluding 2m½f handicap hurdle for lady amateur riders from stablemate Banff.

However, the trainer had initially declared five horses to take part in the 16-runner contest, only to withdraw Sky Of Stars on a vet’s certificate and Knight Commander and Skilled due to them being declared in error.

Murphy, a former assistant to Gordon Elliott, said he had declared all five horses in the hope of increasing the prospects of the race dividing. When this did not happen he withdrew three as he did not want to run five in one race.

The stewards' report concluded: “Having heard his evidence they found him in breach of Rule (F)96.4.2 in that he had declared five runners to increase the possibility of the race dividing but, when it failed to do so, he took the latter two out as he was unwilling to run all four horses in the same race. The stewards considered his actions showed a disregard for the interests of racegoers and fined him £500.”

'I'll take my fine and move on'

Defending his decision, Murphy said the stewards’ views “couldn’t be further from the truth” and that it had been a simple misjudgment on his part.

He said: “One horse came out as his temperature was sky-high and the other two were a misjudgment on my part. At 9.59am [on Friday] it looked as if the race would divide and I spoke to other trainers who said they would be declaring. I jocked up all the horses, but at 10.05am someone had taken a couple out and the race didn’t divide.

“I didn’t want them all running in one race and it was a misjudgment. I’ll have to take my fine and move on.”

Despite the setback in the stewards’ room, Murphy enjoyed a “great buzz” out of getting his first jumps winner, and is set to remain busy over the summer.

“It was a great day,” he said. “I’ve been working in a big jumps yard so it’s a great buzz to get my first jumps winner. We’ve got about a dozen to run over the summer and I’m delighted with how it’s started as we’ve put a lot of hard work in.”