Trainer says au revoir to home of horseracing

Amy Murphy will leave for France in the next few days, saying goodbye to Newmarket

A trainer will say au revoir to the historic home of horse racing as she moves to work in France due to difficulties in "making ends meet".

Amy Murphy began training in Newmarket, Suffolk, in 2016 and went on to work with 239 winners.

However, she will move her operation to Chantilly, across the English Channel, in a hope the business would be "more successful".

She will head off with 25 horses and her team in the coming days

"I've adored my time [in Newmarket]," she told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"It's a great place to train racehorses, we're very lucky that we've got the facilities that we have and it's somewhere that I'll really miss, but we're on to new challenges."

Asked why she had decided to make the move, Ms Murphy said France had better prize money levels.

"I've just found for the business model it's getting harder to makes ends meet," she added.

"I feel like I'm young and I'm ambitious, we need a new challenge on the business front to be a bit more successful.

"Prize money levels in France are incredibly good and that would be our biggest draw.

"Hopefully we can attract people that we wouldn't necessarily be able to attract in England when you're competing with the highest rank of trainers who are here in Newmarket and around the rest of the country."

Ms Murphy will take 25 horses to France along with half a dozen staff members

Last October, Gay Kelleway, the former owner of Queen Alexandra Stables in Exning near Newmarket, similarly left due to the expense and lack of prize money in the sport in the UK.

Ms Murphy said she still felt British horseracing was the "best racing in the world" and it could work for some people.

"Everybody has their own ideas on life, like with any business, and it's what works for you," she added.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, previously said the government took the horseracing industry "incredibly seriously" and was aware of the issues it faced.

Ms Murphy said she was also aware that the British Racehorse Associations was similarly looking into the issue.