Murphy fired up for another big All-Weather Finals challenge

Oisin Murphy is aiming to repeat last year’s All-Weather Championships Finals Day heroics when he returns to Newcastle on Good Friday.

The 28-year-old enjoyed a fantastic afternoon at Gosforth Park 12 months ago, walking away with a treble in some of the most valuable races on the bumper card and all for his long-time training ally Andrew Balding.

Murphy is back in the north east with a stacked book of rides and as well as linking up with Kingsclere handler Balding, he will also get the leg-up from John and Thady Gosden, Rod Millman and Roger Varian over the course of the afternoon.

One of the Irishman’s best chances of success is the Juddmonte-owned Fire Demon, who is the general favourite for the BetMGM All-Weather 3 Year Old Championships Handicap. However, Murphy is full of respect for some of the other leading contenders in the six-furlong event having partnered David Evans’ track-and-trip scorer Blue Prince in his last two starts.

Murphy said: “I had a great day at Newcastle on this card last year. It’s a little bit more competitive this time and many of the races are handicaps.“ Fire Demon won well at Kempton and seems in good shape since the race. He seems to be improving, but I actually respect Blue Prince and Sommelier a lot – Blue Prince has already won there and I feel it will suit Blue Prince a lot more than Lingfield where I was just beat on him last time.” Murphy will donning the blue and white silks of King Power Racing for Balding aboard recent Kempton winners Fivethousandtoone and Teumessias Fox

.It was in the King Power silks Murphy teamed up with Balding to land the Easter Classic through Notre Belle Bete in 2023 and synthetics specialist Teumessias Fox is fancied to repeat the dose.“ Teumessias Fox Fox loves the all-weather and goes well fresh. He has a lot going for him, he’s easy to ride and I would hope he would put up a bold show,” continued Murphy. He went on: ”Fivethousandtoone won really well at Kempton last time and is in great shape and is moving well. It’s a competitive race, but he’s fairly treated by the handicapper on past form and hopefully he will go well.”

Millman’s Just A Spark and the Gosdens’ Vaguely Royal are two other rides, and he will finish the afternoon aboard another King Power Racing-owned candidate, the Varian-trained Fantastic Fox in the BetMGM All-Weather Championships Mile Handicap, with the six-year-old course-and-distance winner arriving having won three of his last five.