Cork and Limerick ready for different sort of Derby duel

NOSED OFF: The Foxes and Oisin Murphy (blue and white) winning The Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes from White Birch for trainer Andrew Balding.

In Upton, Co Cork and Kilmallock in Limerick, there's a shared pride ahead of Flat racing's blue riband at Epsom this Saturday afternoon.

THE great thing about horses is that they don't know how much they cost, who their parents are and the expectations engendered from both those factors.

That works the other way too of course, but the reality is you don't find too many horses of humble origins contending for Derby and Oaks honours.

Two Cork families, one based in Limerick, have upset the odds just by being represented alongside the global owner-breeder conglomerates, huge wallets and training behemoths.

John Murphy is trainer of White Birch, who is a live contender for the Epsom Derby today.

The Upton conditioner came through showjumping initially, working for Iris Kellett and Harvey Smith (himself now a racehorse trainer with his wife Sue) before setting up his own yard to produce young horses, increase their value by securing results in the ring and then sell them on.

It is the same business model that has kept the show on the road all these years since making the transition to racing and within that sphere, switching from being a NH and point-to-point yard to a predominantly Flat one.

Tuscan Evening was a superstar in America, having been schooled by Murphy Snr. Shared Ambition has won a lot of races in Australia and Cavalry Charge (renamed Beauty Charge) is doing very well in Hong Kong at the moment.

Murphy maintains the links to his roots, though his show jumpers are now developed by others. Bertram Allen rode Classified to win at five-star level before being sold last year.

It's a modus operandi that pays the bills for an operation that never has more than 40 horses in full work but usually means that big-time success is elusive. Murphy did win the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in 2006 with Newmill but White Birch being directed towards the winner's enclosure today by Colin Keane would trump that.

By Murphy's side will be his wife, Carolann and son George, who is his assistant and actually went to see the son of Ulysses first, on a recommendation by Tally-Ho Stud guru, Roger O’Callaghan.

They bought him privately and gave him plenty of time, only making his debut last November. That was all about education and he showed the benefits of that when bolting up in Dundalk by six and a half lengths less than three weeks later.

It was at that point that Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez bought the grey colt. This is where the story usually ends. However, having trained Listed winner Charterhouse for the new owner, it was decided that they would keep him.

They have repaid the faith as White Birch won the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown before just failing to peg back today's rival The Foxes in the Dante at York.

They arrived at Epsom on Thursday and that released the pressure valve a bit.

"I’m starting to enjoy it now that the horse got over here very well," said George from the track. "There's not a lot to be done between now and then. It's a case of whether he's good enough or not, we’ll see on the day.

"He's done everything right so far. He's a fairly solid individual. York is a pretty big occasion and he handled it well. I’d imagine it’ll be much bigger again at Epsom but hopefully he’ll handle it okay.

"He's got as much experience as we can give him now, with travelling abroad and running on different ground so hopefully it will go okay for him. I hope he runs to the best of ability and that he gets a little bit of luck."

The celebrations will be very different for George from when Newmill and Andrew McNamara forced mistakes from a high-class field including Kauto Star and Moscow Flyer during his pillar-to-post triumph 17 years ago.

"I was 13. It was a brilliant time. I didn't have a whole lot to do with it but I enjoyed it for sure, especially being over in Cheltenham. I was sick those few days off school!

"I’ve always had the interest in the horses and I’m very lucky that there was always horses at home. This happened for me. I didn't really plan to get into it. I just loved being with the horses and it's nice to be working with them.

"We would usually sell our best horses and it's great when the next man gets a touch with them too, whether they move them on again or are successful on the track. That's our base but it's very exciting to be part of the Derby at Epsom."

THIS is a similar frame of thinking to that of breeder Shane Molan. If there is no upside after a sale, there won't be repeat business. Molan bred Waipiro, who is among White Birch's opposition this afternoon. What's more, his father, Tom bred Bright Diamond, who ran a fantastic race to be fifth in yesterday's Oaks.

The layers would have offered you any price about the possibility of this pair competing at this level, had you approached them when they were born within 18 days of each other between the end of March and start of April 2020.

Accessing the lineages that attract international breeders, billionaire owners, the best trainers and on the balance of probabilities, produces the best chances of delivering on the biggest stage for these reasons but mostly due to their DNA, is very difficult for a small, independent farm such as Riversfield Stud in Kilmallock. But you build, improve, move the chess pieces around the table and sometimes, impossible becomes a reality.

Tom and Geraldine Molan moved from Carrigaline to buy Riversfield 17 years ago. Shane was more interested in team sports, though he liked watching racing. He was a carpenter by trade but started helping out more at home and became enamoured with the puzzle of the pedigree book, the process of matching different lines to the best effect and the possibility of improving the quality of those lines with each passing year.

Now 37, he has been involved full-time for the best part of a decade. The first horse he bred in his own right was triple Group 1 winner Waikuku, whose sire, Harbour Watch had been bred by Tom.

Business is business but there is more to it than that.

"It's very exciting but it's very hard to get my head around it," Shane admits. "It has a massive impact on the business going forward but it's also just very exciting to see these horse competing against the best operations in the world.

"Waikuku has beaten Beauty Generation and Golden Sixty, two absolute superstars out in Hong Kong. Now you’ve Waipiro lining up in the Derby, the biggest Flat race in the world, against Coolmore, Juddmonte, Darley, to name only a few."

The stories of Riversfield's two Classic representatives are a mixture of good planning and sprinkle of luck.

"We actually bred Bright Diamond's dam, Starlite Sienna. We sold her as a yearling but when (dual group winner) Realtra came out of her family, we bought her back which makes it all a bit sweeter.

"When I brought her to El Kabeir, I was thinking of the Scat Daddy, No Nay Never line. I was trying to put that speed and quality into her and we ended up with a mile-and-a-half Classic contender!

"She wasn't much of a foal. She was light so I said I’d hold onto her as a yearling. She improved physically and was always a very good mover but temperamentally, you didn't know which filly was going to turn up on the day, which made her hard to prep. So we eased off her, kept her walking and to her credit, she showed herself very well at the sales and made good money for what she was (€23,000) and Tradewinds did a good job then with her at the breeze-ups (where she sold for €52,000.

"I bought Waipiro's dam at Goffs and her first foal was Waikuku. I sold him as a yearling to John Oxx. She was in foal to Tamayuz at that time and I sold him as a yearling and he made a nice touch. At that time I had her in foal with Highland Reel because I wanted the Danehill line. When I had the few quid from the Tamayuz (It's Good To Laugh), I was able to go to Australia to get into Galileo.

"He was a bit more compact. He looked a sharper type than you would expect for an Australia. We sold him privately mid-summer but he grew a lot. He was a nice, straightforward horse."

The breeding suggested an improvement with age, much like White Birch. Waipiro didn't debut until six days before Christmas Day, when running nicely before winning his maiden at Newmarket and then stepping forward from that again when runner-up in the Lingfield Derby Trial to Military Order, who is favourite today.

"(The trainer) Ed Walker has always said he's a beautiful mover. He looks to show plenty of speed and my only concern, which is a strange one for an Australia, is will he be outstayed as he does show plenty of toe. He's only run once in the grass that day, so hopefully there's more to come." Remarkably, Tom Molan and John Murphy are long-time acquaintances.

"Dad would know John through John's first cousin Conor Murphy, in Upton," explains Molan Jnr. "He would have spent a lot of time in his teenage years growing up around that neck of the woods and would have been friendly with John.

"And though our own farm is in Limerick, we would be Cork men so I suppose if Waipiro wasn't to win it, it would be great to see the Murphys of Upton bringing the Derby to Cork."

"I’d know Shane well," says the younger Murphy. "When I was a kid he would have been around a lot and his brothers, Ian and Alan would have been using the gallops a lot. It's fantastic what the Molans have achieved and for them to have bred runners in both the Oaks and the Derby is incredible."

For both, it's already a winner alright.

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