Ferdy is based at Wynbury Stables in West Witton, North Yorkshire, near to Middleham, the North of England's major training centre for racehorses.

Although Ferdy has a dual-purpose license he excels at the jumping game and is a regular in the top ten trainers list. He has produced five Cheltenham Festival winners. Other major wins include Scottish Grand National, Midlands Grand National, Kerry Grand National, Irish National and the Northern National.

The Irishman has been involved with the horse racing fraternity since working for Phonsie O'Brien back in Tipperary as a teenager.

He later left the sport to work on building sites in London but returned as a stable jockey for trainer Paddy Mullins, with whom he worked for five years.

His first major success as a trainer came in 1980 after leaving Mullins' yard to become a freelance trainer.

The horse in question was Anaglogs Daughter, which he coaxed to victory in the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham.

Murphy's first training role in England came at the end of the 1980s when he moved to Worthingworth Hall as Geoff Hubbard's private trainer.

There he enjoyed mixed success, Gee-A as the youngest ever winner over the Grand National fences (in the Foxhunters' Chase) and Sibton Abbey's Hennessy success among his most notable achievements.

He became a private trainer in April 1994 at Oakwood Stables in Middleham before setting up his current yard nearby back in 1998. He is a regular in the top ten trainers list.