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Rockhampton's Jason Morgan back and racing in the gallopers

9 February 2022

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Photo credit: Caught in the Act Photography CQ

R20012022-1s-copy.jpgBy Jordan Gerrans

There are not many titles Jason Morgan has not held in the racing industry across his life and he has recently acquired a new one – the trainer of an exciting two-year-old.

Debutant filly Tour De Dream backed up her promising trials on debut at Rockhampton’s Callaghan Park late last month and the daughter of Sepoy will aim to make it 2-0 to begin her career at the same track this Friday afternoon.

When Tour De Dream did win smartly on debut under a tight hold from hoop Adam Sewell, the victory was the first for Morgan as a trainer since way back in 2003.

It was not like Morgan was battling away every week trying to find a winner in Central Queensland, he took a long break from training his own gallopers to return to his original code in racing – harness.

As a young fella in the 1980s and 90s, Morgan was a top harness driver in Rockhampton – claiming three premierships and driving over 400 winners – with his father Barry training.

When the pacers stopped being run in the Beef Capital of Australia, Morgan eventually turned to training gallopers, as well as working as an assistant handicapper and cadet steward at the local club.

Back training a small team of gallopers in Rockhampton these days, the well-travelled and experienced horseman is using the stables he has owned for some time with Craig Weatherley, who helps train the horses, as well as owning a share in Tour De Dream.

“We always owned the galloping stables here at Rockhampton even when we were not in it at the time, we always had the stables here and raced horses the whole time but I never trained as I was busy with work,” Morgan said.

“We have owned the stables for 10 years and this is the first time I have taken over training here as I have always had other interests and been too busy to do it full-time.”

Weatherley and Morgan owned Party Pardee, who finished second to Tyzone in the Townsville 2YO Classic back in 2016.

Harness racing followers would remember Morgan being active on the South East Queensland scene up until 2015 when he had his last drive of his career.

Describing himself as always, “a Rocky boy”, Morgan was living and working with his wife Lisa in Papua New Guinea until the pandemic struck and he relocated back to CQ.

IMG-7491.JPG“I decided to put a few horses back in work at the stables instead of just mowing the lawns,” he said with a laugh.

“I am loving being back in training, I have had a break from the harness racing for about six years and it is good to get back into the swing of things with the gallopers and connect with all the people I have known over the years.”

Purchased at Rockhampton’s Capricornia Yearling Sales, Tour De Dream will be targeted towards the sales’ 2YO Classic later this year following Friday’s second career trip to the races over 1050 metres.

“She has been a ready made race horse really,” Morgan said.

“Any time she steps on the track, she just keeps improving.

“She won well the other day and I do not see why she cannot keep on going with it, I am really happy with her.”

Stablemate Double Proof will make her debut in the same race on Friday and is sure to catch the eye of punters in attendance at Callaghan Park.

“She is a 600kg two-year-old, she is huge,” Morgan said.

“I bought her out of the ready to run sale for the Magic Millions in November as I needed an extra horse as we were turning others out.

“She has progressed quite nicely really, she finished just behind the stablemate in her trials.

“I think she will continue to improve; she will need to learn how to put those big legs down.

“She is the biggest two-year-old by far in town.”

Power Load – a third two-year-old in the Morgan barn – will also step out in the same race on Friday with the trainer noting the filly will take benefit from race experience and is a little behind her stable mates in the early stages of her racing career.

With three baby fillies in work, Morgan was not keen to turn to tried horses to restart his stable and expects to be busy through 2022 at the relevant sales to find another couple of yearlings.