A stable lad at trainer Nicky Henderson’s yard, Conor Murphy, is understood to have won £1million on a five-horse accumulator bet on the stable’s record-breaking winners at Cheltenham. Conor picked up the remarkable sum after correctly predicting the winners of five races, culminating in a first place finish for Riverside Theatre in the Ryanair Chase yesterday.
The lucky Irishman, who works for trainer Nicky Henderson, placed the wager in November last year and is estimated to have received accumulated odds of 259,895-1.
The winning horses that featured in the accumulator were Sprinter Sacre (Racing Post Arkle Chase), Simonsig (Neptune Investment Novices’ Hurdle), Bobs Worth (RSA Chase), Finian’s Rainbow (Queen Mother Champion Chase) and Riverside Theatre (Ryanair Chase).
Nicky Henderson said yesterday: “It’s absolutely wonderful. He’s the nicest, kindest, gentlest man and he rides Finian’s Rainbow every day. He’s got more confidence in me than I have and he obviously took a rather strong view, before Christmas, I gather.”
Mr Murphy works at Mr Henderson’s Lambourn stable in Berkshire as deputy head-lad to Corky Browne, a former stableman of the year winner.
Despite his huge payout, Henderson reports him to be at work in Lambourn this morning.
“He’s in work this morning – he is one of the linchpins here. He’s the most lovely man though, a fantastic guy and very quiet,” the trainer continued.
“He rides out Finian’s Rainbow every day of the week and he would probably know more than anyone else in the world about that horse.
Henderson is Cheltenham’s most successful trainer with 45 winners.
