THE WEST Cork stable lad who struck gold at Cheltenham on Thursday after his five-horse accumulator bet came good and earned him over £1 million (€1.2 million) on a £50 stake has no plans to give up work and will not even take a holiday until the racing season ends in June.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Conor Murphy said he had been overwhelmed by the attention his winning bet had received, but he had no plans for the money yet other than to throw a big party when he comes home to Cork in a couple of weeks’ time.
Last December Murphy backed five of his trainer Nicky Henderson’s runners at Cheltenham and “didn’t think much about it” after that.
He was thinking a whole lot more about it on Thursday as Barry Geraghty mounted Riverside Theatre in the Ryanair chase, and while he had yet to work out how much a win would be worth, he knew it would be big money.
Sprinter Sacre had kicked off his winning streak by romping home in Tuesday’s Arkle. On Wednesday the second, third and fourth parts of his accumulator came good when Simonsig, Bobs Worth and Finian’s Rainbow, who Murphy looks after, all won. Then Geraghty did the business and Murphy cleaned up.
He said the win was “sinking in slowly” and while it would take a few days, he was fairly confident it wouldn’t cause too much upheaval in his life. “Not much will change and I won’t be giving up my job. I love it here and weeks like this make it all worth while,” he said.
Everyone at the stable where the 31-year-old works is said to be thrilled with his coup. “They are delighted . . . They’re a great bunch of lads. Everyone here is really happy and we’ll have a real party. I will be going home to west Cork in a few weeks and we’ll have some party then.”
The bet was placed with Bet365. “We’ve had a pretty horrendous meeting with plenty of favourites winning and there have been many, many winning accounts,” said spokesman Pat Cooney.
Trainer Henderson described the bet as “an amazing piece of foresight” and said Murphy was “one of the linchpins here. He’s the most lovely man though, a fantastic guy and very quiet”.
