Welcome to 'Daniel Champion & Kezia Murphy Racing'
Licenced 'Class A' Public Trainers
The training partnership of Daniel Champion & Kezia Murphy are based in Ashburton and they currently have 20 horses in work.
Racing Operations
Their 10 acre property is complete with 22 walk in yards, and ten separate paddocks. They are perfectly positioned right next to the Ashburton racecourse where the horses are worked daily.
Ownership for the stables comes from people of all walks of life, including multiple ownership in some. Daniel and Kezia are always happy to take on a new client and usually can find something suitable to fit everyones budget.
Ambition: Their ambition is simply to train winners, while to get a Group 1 winner back in Ashburton would be huge. Kezia especially loves educating the young ones - that’s her passion, breaking in and educating them.
Past Winners
The partnership has had some exciting prospects and winners in the past, including:
- Shamrox - undoubtedly a super horse who unfortunately went amiss
- Ketchiben - winner of 8 and over $150k in stake monies
- Gasnier winner of 7, part owned by Daniel and John Wheeler and winner of the $100k Riverton Cup.
Their Backgrounds
Daniel Champion grew up in New Plymouth and his interest in racing resulted in him working for one of New Zealand’s most prominent and well loved trainers, John Wheeler. This was to set the foundations for a career within the equine industry, although it was to come about a little later on as Daniel was a very talented Rugby League player.
While working at the Wheeler stables, Daniel was put in charge of 'Sir Barton’ and took him down to Christchurch for the 1991 Grand National hurdles, a race which the horse duly won. Taking a liking to the region, Daniel decided to stay on, representing Canterbury in Rugby league whislt working for trainers Jan and Dave Kerr. At the same time Daniel took on a Farrier apprenticeship and when his playing career was over he took out his first Training Licence.
Five years ago in 2010, Daniel took on Kezia Murphy as a training partner. Kezia came from an outdoor loving family and she had her first pony at the young age of 6. Equestrian became her passion and she duly competed in both dressage and eventing.
After working part time for Shane Kennedy and Terrie Rae, her first job was with trainers Tony and Lyn Prendergast. It was when her path crossed with Danny’s (when he trained ‘Beverley Hills’, a horse that Kezia had a half share in), that they decided to form the training partnership.
Contact Details
Address: 47 Churchill Avenue, Ashburton
Phone: Kezia 027 452 2518
Daniel 027 483 8821
Email: keziamurphy777@hotmail.com
