Vocito defies double penalty to hint at promising winter for Olly Murphy

Olly Murphy proved his string were in fine form ahead of another busy winter campaign when Vocito defied a double penalty to land the 2m½f novice hurdle.

The six-year-old carried 12lb and upwards more than his rivals but came home six lengths clear under Sean Bowen, leaving the Warwickshire-based trainer thrilled to see the gelding strike for local syndicate Sky's The Limit.

"He's been a durable little horse and his owners have been with me a long time, so it's great," Murphy said. "I thought there were horses in there with potential and he was having to give them so much weight, but he had a softish lead up front and that bit of experience counted for a lot."

Murphy, who enjoyed his first century last season, is determined to focus on quality rather than quantity this term. His team is likely to be headed by Strong Leader, who provided Murphy with his first Grade 1 since 2020 when winning the Liverpool Hurdle in April. 

He said: "Strong Leader had a gallop on Wednesday and seems in great form. The plan is to go to Wetherby at the start of next month [for the West Yorkshire Hurdle] but he'll have a penalty until he can go back into Grade 1 company again. 

"He's unexposed at that trip [3m] and he's trained really well. All being well, I've got him in a good place."

Denzil delivers

Dan Skelton's strong start to the season showed no sign of abating after he secured his 58th win of the campaign with Denzil in the juvenile hurdle. 

The black gelding, a brother to the stable's smart chaser Nube Negra, benefited from the final-flight blunder of Wallquatari to score easily on his racecourse debut, cantering home 55 lengths clear of his sole other rival Celestial Ruby. 

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