MORGAN’S WEEKEND HAUL – NOW FOR THE STRADBROKE

A five-winner weekend haul which included his first ever metropolitan city treble and 100th winner for the season.

Now Newcastle jockey Ash Morgan wants to parlay that form into capturing a second Group 1 triumph interstate next weekend.

The Welsh expat has been booked by Annabel and Rob Archibald for their mare Lady Laguna in the $3m Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Morgan’s three Royal Randwick winners in the first five races yesterday comprised two for Newcastle trainer Nathan Doyle (Hidden Motive, $1.65 favorite and Hellfire Express, $15)) and the other (Millie De Lune, $9) for Warwick Farm trainer Matt Smith.

He almost made it four on Millie De Lune’s stablemate Anythink Goes ($21), who ran second to Thunderlips in the sixth, and joked “I felt a bit flat” afterwards.

“It sounds silly to say after riding three winners, but I thought we were home when Anythink Goes started his run out in the centre of the track, only for the winner to get through closer to the inside,” Morgan said today.

“I’ve ridden doubles in town before, but that’s my first city treble.”

Morgan’s trio took him to 99 winners for the season, and he wasted no time hitting a century, riding the first two winners at Wyong today.

He won the Maiden Handicap (1100m) on debutante two-year-old filly Sapphire Rose ($2.10 favorite), and then the 4YO & Up Maiden Plate (1200m) on heavily backed Irish Import Inncourt ($2.40 favorite), who began awkwardly, struck trouble just after the start and, after settling down last, got there in the nick of time.

This is the third occasion Morgan has ridden 100 plus winners in a season in Australia, and two of those seasons gave him the title of leading New South Wales jockey.

But this has been a racing year like no other.

The affable Morgan clinched his first Group 1 success on Hidden Motive’s stablemate Private Harry in the $1m The Galaxy at Rosehill Gardens in March, the $3m Sunlight (1100m) at the Sunshine Coast in January on the same unbeaten Newcastle three-year-old, and $1m Provincial-Midway Championships Final (1400m) on Wyong trainer Sara Ryan’s Matcha Latte at Randwick in April.

It’s a far cry - and not just in distance – from Morgan’s maiden Australian winner ($71 bolter Hidden Chief at Gilgandra on August 18, 2018).

It was a lowly Benchmark 50 Handicap over 800m in the bush, and Morgan admits he got a bit lost that day.

“I had never ridden in an 800m race before,” he explained. “Back home in the UK, my five furlongs rides were either on a straight track or around one turn.

“Hidden Chief really motored down the outside that day once he got balanced.”

Whilst two-year-old Hidden Motive, for whom Kurrinda Bloodstock has big plans in spring, scraped home, Morgan said his performance was full of merit.

“He had everything his own way when he bolted in at Hawkesbury last time, and though his margin was narrow yesterday, it was a better run,” Morgan said.

“He got keen when Dubbo Boy raced up inside him  after the start, and both horses got keen.

“Hidden Motive was there to be beaten.”

Morgan is looking forward to his first ride in Queensland’s richest race on Saturday.

“Lady Laguna is a quality mare with a nice weight (52.5kg),” he said.

“She was a Group 1 winner last year in the Canterbury Stakes at Randwick (beating 2023 The Everest winner Think About It), and then ran second a fortnight later in another Group 1 (George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill Gardens).”

Morgan also will reunite with his Provincial-Midway Championships Final winner Matcha Latte in the Listed The Wayne Wilson (1600m).

He has ridden Matcha Latte three times for two wins and a fourth in the Group 3 Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) on May 3 on heavy ground.

Story John Curtis, June 8, 2025