Murphy’s stable star was a close second to Forpadydeplasterer in the Arkle at last year’s Festival.

And this time round he takes on the mighty Master Minded in the two-mile Wednesday feature. Murphy told Sky Sports News:

“Looking at the betting he’s 6/1 for the Queen Mother. To me we only have Master Minded to beat and as a each-way bet at 6/1 for me is buying money and it will be good business.”

Kalahari King is in good order having run out an impressive winner of the Blue Square Handicap Chase at Doncaster earlier this month. And Murphy hoping that the race at Cheltenham will be run to suit his charge. He said:

“It’s nice to see he’s second favourite for the Queen Mother. Obviously Masterminded is the king – he’s been there the last two years and done it and I would imagine that on good ground he’ll pop out and make it and it would be an ideal situation for us to just get tracked through and try to challenge at the last and hopefully get up the hill well.”

The recent freezing temperatures disrupted many stables, but Murphy had no problems keeping Kalahari King sharp.

He revealed: “We got a bad snow fall in January and obviously our gallops were wet. On the main gallop we had 16 inches of snow so in a three-week period he was in Redcar for 14 days. He’s very good to travel and doesn’t mind going in the box and he absolutely adores the beach. He’s one of those horses who loves it and he really thrived on it.”

Cheltenham Festival News from Racing Diary