The Cheltenham Festival is just three weeks away and as the excitement ahead of the meeting begins to reach fever pitch Irish trainer Colm Murphy continues to put the finishing touches to his team heading for Prestbury Park.

Situated in the small village of Killenagh, Murphy’s stable have plenty of reasons to look forward to the Festival with a large degree of expectation.  Five years after Brave Inca battled to victory in a vintage renewal of the Champion Hurdle and just twelve months after Big Zeb jumped to a power-packed success in the Champion Chase, the trainer returns for another tilt at one of his favourite meetings.

With Big Zeb returning to defend his crown in the Champion Chase and with Quito De La Roque featuring prominently in the betting for the RSA Chase, we thought is made sense to catch up with Murphy and find out more about why the Cheltenham Festival is so special and how he thinks his horses will fare in 2011.

CP: We’re starting to get really excited about the Cheltenham Festival now, what is your first memory of the meeting?

CM: It has to be the Gold Cup, it’s the biggest race around and I can vaguely remember Dawn Run winning it.  I can remember I used to get excited about it when I was younger, it was always one of the main Festivals and there was so much hype about it.

Everyone remembers the roof coming down when Brave Inca won the Champion Hurdle in 2006, is that your favourite memory of the meeting?

Definitely, that was something really special and it’s made even better because it’s at a festival like that.  Everything is geared towards that one day and when you get there and everything goes according to plan and everything does go right it is a pretty special feeling.

After the race it’s more relief than anything and I don’t think you get to really enjoy it until a while after it has happened.  When he won up there it took a while to realise what he’d actually achieved.

What do you think it is that makes the Cheltenham Festival so special?

I suppose from the punter to the breeder everything is geared towards Cheltenham.  To breed a horse that wins at Cheltenham is special and it is a jockey’s dream to ride a winner at the Festival.  It’s a trainers dream to train one for the meeting and it’s an owner’s dream to have a runner there.  It’s the biggest thing in jump racing and it’s an honour to be there.

This year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase looks set to be an absolute thriller; do you think Big Zeb is ready to do himself justice in the race?

Yes definitely, we’re really happy and everything has gone really well with him this year.  We’re hoping for a lot of luck and you’ll need a lot of luck on the day.  We were very fortunate he was there last year and things went right for him and we’re hoping for a bit of luck again.

We’ll keep him ticking over and he’ll probably do a piece of work between now and then but we won’t do anything different.  We’ll just keep him wrapped up and get him ready.  He’s in good form and we really are happy with him.

This year’s opposition looks formidable and it looks a really tough race, do you choose to forget about the likes of Master Minded and Somersby or do you find yourself running the race in your head?

No, I’ll leave that to Barry (Geraghty)!  That will be Barry’s problem; I’ve got enough headaches at home making sure we get him there.  To be honest, I couldn’t care less what else is in the race.  I’ll let the other trainers worry about their horses and I’ll concentrate on worrying about mine.

What is the thinking behind swerving the Festival with Voler La Vedette? She won well at the weekend when she stepped up in trip, there must be plenty of options for her now?

Well there are plenty of nice races over here with the Fairyhouse Easter meeting and the Punchestown Festival.  She got a little a bit revved up at Cheltenham last year and it probably finished her season just being over there so we’ll aim her at some of the nice races here.  There’s plenty of prize money so we don’t really have to bring her over. 

There are plenty of options for her now (after stepping up in trip) and she didn’t settle at Cheltenham last year.  To be honest she ran so free in her race she did well to finish where she did and now there are plenty of options on soft ground.  She got 2mf5 really well the other day so I’d imagine she could get three miles on better ground.

Quito De La Roque has looked fantastic so far this season, will you be aiming him at next month’s RSA Chase or will you be running him over four miles at the Festival?

He’s entered for both at the moment, I don’t know which race he’ll go for at the moment or if he will go for any.  I know he’s got entries in all the races so we’d have to see nearer the time and we’ll have to see what the ground is like as well, that could decide a lot.  We’ll keep our options open, I’d imagine they’d want to go to the meeting with him but I’m not sure where’ he’ll go.

You’ve had winners at all the big festivals and you’ve won plenty of Grade Ones as a trainer, what do you think it is that makes your stable such a successful operation?

We’re just really fortunate to have really good horses at the stable and we were so lucky to get Brave Inca and then Big Zeb.  We’re so lucky but when we do get them we’ve got a good team behind them and it’s up to us to keep the wheels on them!

Finally, are there any horses Cheltenham-Live readers should keep an eye on for the rest of the season?  Are there any hidden gems you can point us in the direction of?

Tough one, there’s nothing in the woodwork that hasn’t already run this season I’d say.  Obviously we’ve got Big Zeb, but there’s also Gates Of Rome who will be running over Easter.  He took a bad fall the last day but he’s certainly one to keep an eye on and I think you’ll see a different horse now.  He’s done nothing but improve and he probably wasn’t 100% when he ran before and he really seems to have turned a corner.