Murphy hopes to retain Bowen for 10 more years

Leading trainer looks ahead to 2025/26 season as Old Gold Racing horse joins Warren Chase.

Olly Murphy has said he intends to forge a relationship with champion jump jockey Sean Bowen that could last for more than a decade.

Speaking with Grand National-winning jockey Mick Fitzgerald, who is heading up a new syndicate set up by Old Gold Racing, Murphy discussed the dynamic between him and Bowen, as well as his visions for a future at the “top table”.

Fitzgerald has recently teamed up with Old Gold Racing to launch a new horse, Jamada, under his Mick Fitzgerald Racing Club operation. The five-year-old Irish bumper winner was purchased for £40,000 at Tattersalls Cheltenham last April and is being readied at Murphy’s Warren Chase base for a season starting in maiden hurdles.

On Bowen, Murphy said: “Sean Bowen is a massive part of the team, and we’ve got a fantastic relationship. I think that’s imperative for a trainer and jockey to have. There’s an element of friendship, but at the same time he respects me, and I respect him.

“We can be open and frank with each other. He tells me when he thinks I’m not doing something right, and vice versa, if I think he’s ridden a horse the wrong way, I’ll quite rightly say the same. It’s a healthy relationship, where we can debate how a horse has been ridden or where it should be placed. It’s not good to be treading on eggshells and we aren’t.

“He knows he’ll be riding the horse the next day, whatever the result. There’s an element of him having trust in me, and I have an awful lot of trust in him.

“This isn’t about the next 12 months. Sean Bowen isn’t on a short-term contract where, if things don’t happen quickly, he’s out. This is about the long term. Hopefully, the next 10 years will be the best of Sean Bowen’s career and of Olly Murphy’s as well.

“He’s also fantastic with owners, his feedback is second to none. He’s obsessed with what’s going on here at Warren Chase Stables, and we just want the best for each other.”

On new recruit Jamada, who shares are available in for £60, Murphy said: “Jamada is a maiden. He was a bumper winner, so we can start him off in a maiden hurdle, and hopefully he’s a horse who can progress through the ranks.

“He seems like a very straightforward horse. We’ve been very lucky with his sire, Affinisea, and the fact that he’s still a maiden gives us a few more options. He’s not a horse that’s going to need a lot of time.

“I don’t think it will be very long before he wins his maiden hurdle and finds himself in the winners’ enclosure.”

Murphy and Fitzgerald also reminisced about the now Warwickshire-based trainer’s experience in Ireland working with Gordon Elliott, as well as his aspirations for the future – to view the full video, watch below...

Visit here to purchase your share in Jamada...