By Brian Sheerin
Impressive Eyrefield Stakes winner Sigh No More (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) will head to the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, according to Johne Murphy, the former Munster Rugby player who heads Stride Racing.
Sigh No More provided Stride Racing with its greatest day on a racetrack at Leopardstown on Saturday when landing a 40-1 knockout punch to her rivals in that Group 3 contest.
Owned in partnership with Bronsan Racing, the Joseph O'Brien-trained juvenile has now amassed over €125,000 including bonuses for her connections, and will undoubtedly garner plenty of attention at the sales.
“The plan is for her to go to the December Mares Sale at Tattersalls where she will sell on the Monday evening,” Murphy said. “We are a trading syndicate and have been doing that for four or five years.
“In our first year, we had a horse called Maritime Wings (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), and he was something of a flagbearer for our trading syndicate. When we started syndicating horses in 2017/18, it was concentrated more on the fun aspect of having horses in training.”
He added, “We started at a very low level, just five or six of us, and one of our first horses, Tuamhain (GB) (Mayson {GB}), won three times. We also had a double at the Galway festival one year with a horse called Linger (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), so that was all under the banner of Rugby And Racing. But we predominantly place ourselves in the commercial side of the market now.”
It's fair to say that Stride has come a long way in a short space of time. The ownership group has never had more than 10 horses in training, the majority of which have been based with O'Brien, and Sigh No More is the classiest runner that has carried those recognisable brown and pink silks to victory.
“It's incredible, really,” Murphy expanded, “because we've never really kept a horse as good as this. After they win, they are usually sold and sometimes for luck these things happen.”
He added, “Personally, I think the market has underestimated her all along. She won very impressively at Galway but maybe people were cribbing the ground on the day and that maybe the race just fell apart and she was left to pick up the pieces.
“But that form has worked out very well with the third Right And True (Ire) (Arizona {Ire}) going on to win a Listed race. We had a couple of phone calls after Galway but it never materialised into a hardened offer. She's just so tough and genuine, and loves racing, so it allowed us to continue on with her. She's grossed over €125,000 between prize-money and IRE incentives before she sets foot in the ring so it has all been for luck.”
There was a certain amount of luck involved in Sigh No More racing for Stride and Bronsan Racing in the first place. Originally bought by Paddy Twomey for €60,000, she was returned to the vendor Barronstown Stud at the Goffs Orby Sale last year. It was at that point where Murphy says current connections spied an opportunity to race the well-bred sister to black-type performers Neptune Rock (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) and Unreasonable (Ire) (No Nay Never).
He explained, “She just got spun on the day for whatever reason. We very much act in that space, with horses who qualify for auction races. We followed her into the ring and €50,000 is where we valued her. She made more than that but obviously got spun. We decided to take a chance and, with her pedigree, Joseph trained a lot of the family and we felt that it was a pretty secure bet. We forgive some things that people at a higher level of the market probably wouldn't but pedigree is very important to us and, once it's there on the page, there is always going to be some level of residual there.”
Murphy enjoyed a long and distinguished rugby career, earning 99 caps for Leicester and a further 93 appearances for Munster. A sportsman to the very core, his endeavours in racing have kept his competitive spirit alive in retirement and, frankly, filled the void that comes with hanging up the boots.
“One hundred per cent,” the Kildare native said when asked if racing has been a helpful outlet in retirement. “I grew up going racing and my father had plenty of good ones when I was younger so I was bitten by the bug pretty early. When I retired, the first horse we syndicated was purely to keep in contact with some fellow players.
“But I'd be of the opinion that one hundred per cent of the opportunities that you don't take never materialise into anything, good or bad, so when I was given an opportunity to push on and grow the syndicate, my personality would lend itself towards taking those chances. If it works out, brilliant, and if not, at least you tried. Given my background in professional sport, you have to back yourself and thankfully it's materialised and we've had a bit of luck but then again we've great people behind us backing the model and backing what we do.”
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