ADRIAN Murray described himself as speechless in the immediate aftermath of his 150/1 shot Valiant Force’s win in the Norfolk Stakes but, on Friday morning, with the dust settled following that scorching success, the Westmeath native had time for more of an in-depth reflection.

“Sure it’s unbelievable, absolutely brilliant,” he told The Irish Field. “We were meant to be home early this morning but we had to delay that. We are absolutely delighted.

“I genuinely couldn’t believe he was a 150/1 shot. We all thought that. If you took his first run, he was only beaten three-quarters of a length by His Majesty (in Listed First Flier Stakes) and he was one of the fancied horses on the day.

“I know he was well held in the Marble Hill but things just didn’t work out for him on the day. He was better off back at the five furlongs. Sure a load of lads backed him as well and made plenty of money so it’s great.”

It is some achievement for a trainer who admits he fell into training horses by accident, having taken out a licence to train on the track as a hobby, shortly after he sent out his point-to-point winner in 2006.

He mostly trained jumpers from there on and regularly sent out winners at his local track Kilbeggan. His venture into flat racing came through his association with Robson Aguiar, well known as a shrewd breeze-up consignor. Aguiar rode out for Murray and encouraged him to take out a dual licence.

He rode Murray’s She’s Ranger to win her maiden at Dundalk and that filly went on to finish third in the 1000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown the following season, before she was sold on to France.

Amo Racing link

Through Aguiar’s growing relationship with Kia Joorabchian, Murray received seven horses from the expanding Amo Racing operation last season - winning with three of them.

This season he sent out Bucanero Fuerte to win the first two-year-old maiden of the season at the Curragh and that colt ran a fine race to finish third to River Tiber in the Coventry on Tuesday.

“Robson would have been with me for a while and it’s through him the connection came about with Kia,” Murray explained.

“He has bought horses for Kia down the years and I was lucky enough that he sent me a few.

“Robson does a lot of work with the horses at home, along with his brother Marcio, it’s a big team effort. Robson has done a brilliant job sourcing the horses, a lot of it goes down to him.

“It’s great that we were able to provide Kia with his first Ascot winner as well. You could see how much it meant to him. We fancied one we had for him last season and she was 12th, beaten only three lengths (Saliteh in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes) and we were thinking maybe that is our chance gone to provide him his first Royal Ascot winner, but here we are.”

On the future plans for both Valiant Force and Bucanero Fuerte, Murray added: “We’ll take stock in the next week or so. They are two very good colts and I’m sure we’ll be able to target them at some good races.”