Can ‘Lightning' Strike Twice For Murphy?

MATT Murphy is hoping Lightning can strike twice at Wentworth Park this weekend after enjoying what was a whirlwind 24 hours at headquarters last week, landing a winning double.

In another breakout performance for the Raglan conditioner, Murphy landed wins at both the Friday and Saturday night programs, Raglan Revolver a 16.39 victor over the 280m at the inaugural Neds Friday night Lightning program, while rising four year old stayer Rockstar Kerr was a last stride 42.35 winner over the 720m on Saturday.

"It's been a great few days, Raglan Revolver backed up and won at Bathurst on Monday as well, hopefully it's more of the same this week," said Murphy, taking a break from building a new kennel block at his Raglan base.

"I actually wasn't there on Friday night, Amanda Ginn took Raglan Revolver down for me and I was really happy with how he went. He does take a few strides to get going so he just needs to be left alone early, he's drawn the red for the final this week but to be honest I'd rather him out in seven or eight."

A lightly raced son of Hay Fergus and Grappa Girl, Raglan Revolver has won four of his nine career starts, including Monday's slick 17.86 Bathurst success – the best time of the program for the 307m.

"We beat the grader at Bathurst on Monday, it was a 0-2 win race and Friday night at Wenty was his third win," pointed out Murphy.

"It's actually taken a while to get him back and going at Bathurst, early on there he caught the lure and went under the fence which really spooked him. He lost a lot of confidence from that but is back going good now."

With $1,600 awaiting the winner of Friday night's Neds Odds Boost Final (280m), Murphy has labeled the Alan Ivers-trained Danni Said No as the hardest to beat, the daughter of Kinloch Brae, winner at seven of her 13 starts, an impressive 16.20 heat victor on Friday.

"From box eight she does look the hardest to beat but I do think my dog can get down to low 16s providing he steps cleanly, he should be hard to beat if he can do that," added Murphy.

"The Friday Night Lightning concept is a good one and gives people the opportunity to race at Wentworth Park but I do think the series' bonuses need some tweaking for next time.

"In theory I could race and win at each of the five weeks with Raglan Revolver and still not win the bonus. It's all built around pure weight of numbers, which being honest I don't think is right."

While Murphy will in all likelihood trust Raglan Revolver in the care of Amanda Ginn for the second week running on Friday, he will be on hand at Wentworth Park this Saturday night when Rockstar Kerr lines up in the first of the Group 3 Gold Cup heats (720m).

"I had $20 on her last week at $61.00 which was nice, that's all I have on them otherwise you go broke backing your own dogs," added Murphy.

"It was her first win since taking out the Ladbrokes Challenge there last year but if you go through her form she's been running a lot of very good races, just having no luck. When you get back like she does in her races you have to expect you'll find bother more often than not.

"She ripped a bit of her pad off on Saturday night but it's mending well and I'd say she's an 80% chance of starting, but if she's not right I won't be taking any chances with her.

"Dave's bitch (That's Lil Vicki) is definitely the one to beat, I'd need to be within 3-4 lengths of her down the back to be a chance of running her down.

"My wife asked me yesterday if I'll go in the Association Cup against Tornado Tears and I said of course, you always want to test yourself against the best. But if they decided to stay at home with him that'd be just fine as well!"

Going into greyhound training head first, Murphy said that while his numbers racing are currently on the light side, he expects that to change in the not too distant future.

"I've got a real good owner in Aaron Baker who has invested quite a bit into what we're doing here," added Murphy.

"We've got some nicely bred pups that have broken in well so hopefully there are some exciting times ahead."