Adrian Murray© Photo Healy Racing
I'm from Co Westmeath and from the age of 14 I did a bit of hunting. I'm a farmer by trade on family land and that is where I also train from. I've always had a passion for horses. When I left school, I started buying a horse or two, to break them, hunt them and show them. I got bigger and bigger into that then, but I always had a passion for racing and followed it and went racing. Kilbeggan was my favourite track and I never missed a meeting in Kilbeggan, and still never do! I had my first racecourse winner in Kilbeggan with Leney Dow Jones (in May 2008). A neighbour of mine, Paddy Hegarty, asked me to train him originally for point-to-pointing. Paddy said to me to go and apply for the licence and we would run his two horses at the time on the track. Over the next 10 years, I had the odd winner of jumps.
In 2016, I met Robson Aguiar. He was working in Tally-Ho Stud and he used to come and ride out a bit for me when he had time. We bought a filly between us in Goresbridge called Shes Ranger and Robson won a two-year-old maiden on her in her second run in Dundalk for me. Then as a three-year-old, she was fourth in a Listed race at Navan and she was third in the 1,000 Guineas Trial in Leopardstown. We sold her for a good bit of money. I never had a Flat licence until I met Robson, he suggested I should get it and we started doing a bit between us. With the success of Shes Ranger, I got a taste for the Flat - I'd have a taste for a winner!
Robson started buying yearlings for Kia Joorabchian and pre-training, and he suggested to Kia that we keep a few horses with me training them. Kia was happy to go with that and It has got better and better. It really started off in Royal Ascot, we won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes with Valiant Force in June last year and it was unbelievable. We had a runner there the year before and the lads were saying to me that it would be great if I trained Kia's first Royal Ascot winner. Valiant Force was Kia's first winner there and it made it more special having it for him as Royal Ascot is his Cheltenham. He was 150/1, but he didn't know his price. He was a fair horse now and we were walking on air coming back in with Valiant Force.
Bucanero Fuerte winning the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh last year was absolutely electric. He won first day out as a two-year-old (in the Curragh) and he was always a very good horse. He got better and better as the year went on - a real big, good-looking horse. We fancied him for the Phoenix Stakes. He was third in Royal Ascot (Group 2 Coventry Stakes) not having run for a long time and probably needed the run. Just under a fortnight later, he came back and won the Group 2 Railway Stakes at the Curragh. He was in great order and we went for the Phoenix. He just was an improving horse the whole time. Training a Group 1 winner took a bit of getting used to!
Arizona Blaze and Hill Road were both placed at the Breeders' Cup in Del Mar this year. I was out there for nine days. Arizona Blaze was so competitive in every race and never runs a bad race. He will targeting all those five and six-furlong races next year.
We were also second at the Breeders' Cup in Santa Anita last year with Valiant Force. It is an unreal experience. You'd be watching it on television, but I would never have dreamed of having a runner in it.
Arizona Blaze winning the Marble Hill Stakes© Photo Healy Racing
I work closely with Robson - he is a brilliant man at sourcing these horses and they turn out to be good racehorses. Kia decides on where the (Amo Racing) horses go and he would be very much involved in the placing of the horses. Kia and Robson would do most of the race planning. Amo is a huge operation and I enjoy going to England and meeting up with them. We would have a bit of banter and Kia is a great man to work for. Kia is a big player in racing and he is starting up a breeding operation. He wants horses that have stallion or broodmare potential. We get new horses each year and then we get horses from other trainers. We got a good horse last year, Elegant Man, who came from America. He wasn't training well at all in America and he could do no wrong for us. He won first time out at Dundalk (in October 2023) and then he went to Kempton and he was second in a Listed race. The horse that beat him, Rebel's Romance, was a previous Breeders' Cup winner and he won at the Breeders' Cup again this year. Elegant Man has retired now.
Bringing on young horses is what drives me - working with them and having a goal for them. We had 10 young horses up at Skyrne (Gallops) jumping them this week and you would be really excited about them. Seeing them coming on gives me unbelievable satisfaction. I still love the National Hunt game as much as I ever did. For sure, I will be continuing as a dual-purpose trainer. I also enjoy going to the Sales and picking out horses. I would always try and buy a couple of National Hunt yearlings and bring them back as three-year-olds. If I do well with them, I'll sell them and if I don't, I'll kick on myself with them and win a point-to-point and sell them. I've done well with that. I'm still tipping away with the point-to-points. Training a Breeders' Cup winner for Amo Racing is among my goals, I'd love to do that. We were beaten half a length with Valiant Force (by Big Evs in Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2023).
At home here, we have 28 boxes and we have a two furlong circular sand gallop and a 10 furlong circular grass gallop. In Robson's, we have 35 boxes about 10 minutes from here. I'm responsible for the two (yards) - predominantly jumpers with me and Flat horses down with Robson. He would have a couple of National Hunt horses of his own and they would be here. I'd have a couple of Flat ones down with him. I go up and down every day. We have about 25 jumpers and about 40 yearlings in at the minute.
I find you meet an awful lot of people and make a lot of friends through horses. You get introduced to a lot of people that you would never dream of getting to know, and now you'd know them very well. It is a great game that way.
Adrian was in conversation with Michael Graham.
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