TRAINER TALK: LUCA MORGAN
- jakeexelby
- Dec 8
- 8 min read
Updated: 23 hours ago
At the age of just 24, Luca Morgan is already a high achiever, both in the saddle and as an up-and-coming trainer of point-to-pointers. Turning professional in 2019, after two seasons riding between the flags, Luca went to work for Ben Pauling and was crowned champion conditional jockey in April 2023 before his sudden retirement that November. Turning immediately to the training game – with his first runners in February 2024 – he has already proved himself a shrewd operator with both older horses and youngsters, with the classy Givega targeting top Hunter Chases this season and Baron Du Brizais, who took the opening GB Pointing Bonus Maiden at Lower Machen last month, making £90,000 when going under the hammer at the recent Goffs Coral Gold Cup sale. Jake Exelby went to see him at his impressive Sandall House base, near Warwick, to find out more about a young man on the rise.
Luca (pictured above holding Givega, with partner Paige Topley and Baron du Brizais - all photos Caroline Exelby except where stated) has a mix of horses in their yard, from pre-trainers for former boss Ben Pauling, to youngsters to run and sell, to established pointers. “The pre-trainers underpin the business,” explains Luca. “They pay for the keep of the stores that I buy to sell on. Then the older horses are mostly owned by The Gambie Gang, comprising Mum and Dad and a group of family friends. I’ve done well for them, with the likes of Givega and On Springs (who Luca rode to five wins under rules, then trained to win three points last season). I also bought a 4yo horse for them – J’Envoievalserenki – who won at Badbury Rings.”
Luca, originally from near Bath – “pretty much where Neil Mulholland trains” – has been at Sandall House since he retired as a jockey and expects to run, “Six three-year-olds, two more 4yos and five older horses,” this season. Surprisingly for one who’s done so well, so young, he’s not from a racing background.
“Mum and Dad weren’t interested in racing and had no idea about the sport,” recalls Luca, “But I wanted to be a jockey since I was about five. The mum of my best mate at primary school had a riding school and I went to have lessons every Saturday morning. Mum and Dad then bought me a New Forest pony – Maisie – who dropped me most days! I had to wait until I was nine to ride her in a race – it was the pony racing day at Wincanton – and I thought she was a rocket… but she wasn’t!”
“My parents were massively supportive,” adds Luca. They used to take me to ride out for Seamus Mullins – I told him I was 12 but I was only ten – then Paul Nicholls, and pony racing at the weekend. It was Matt Hampton who got me into pointing – I met him when we both rode out for Paul – and he taught me so much. We get on really well and he’s a great trainer. I rode a horse called Billy Two Tongues for him and learnt loads… mostly because he was a terrible jumper!”
Luca clarifies why he turned conditional after his second season, in which he rode six winners, along with the PPORA points series. “I was riding almost as much under rules as in points, so thought I might as well get paid for it. Ben Pauling put me up one day in a hands and heels race, then agent Dave Roberts called and said Ben was looking for a 7lb claimer. Two weeks later, I was there and never looked back.”
“I rode my first double at Uttoxeter (in December 2019)”, continues Luca, “And – while I think I had another 50 rides before my next winner for Ben, because he had a bug he couldn’t shift, which prompted him to move yards – I had an amazing time. Ben was brilliant to me. I was claiming, but riding in Grade One races, and on horses like Northern Bound, Shakem Up’Arry and Slipway. I won seven races on Northern Bound, and he was a real darling – you could put your nan on him!””
“I always believed in myself,” says Luca about his championship season, “But didn’t expect to win the title, particularly as I was only claiming 3lb at the start of the season. I remember messaging Ben in August saying I wouldn’t mind giving it a go and it’s all down to the support of Ben, as well as people like Michael Scudamore.”
Luca is honest about the struggles with his weight that forced him to retire just six months after his title. “It was always an issue,” he admits. “Even when I was 17 or 18, I was sweating every day. After I got the trophy at Sandown, I went to Tenerife for a week, but didn’t go overboard, as I knew I had to ride at 11st2lbs when I got back. When I got on the scales, I expected to be 11st5lb but was a stone heavier. I managed to lose it all, but couldn’t see straight, and my ears were popping. While I felt fine on the horse, I drank buckets of water afterwards and put it all back on. I had two rides booked at Ludlow – also at 11st2lbs – for Nicky Henderson, so had to do it all over again.”
“I told Ben I needed a break,” a sombre Luca goes on. “He was very understanding and I was still riding out every day, but – when I came back – I broke my foot and was concussed on my first ride, so had to stop again. I came back one more time but one night, I’d been in the bath two hours and hadn’t lost any weight, so I said to Ben, ‘That’s it.’ I was upset more than anything,” Luca admits. “The hardest part was ringing Ben, as I hate letting people down.”
Younger brother Beau – best known for his association with Twig (trained in points by Matt) – still rides as a conditional but, as Luca explains, didn’t get the bug until he was older. “He didn’t start until he was a teenager,” laughs Luca. “I taught him to ride one evening while Mum was making dinner and had him jumping hurdles by the end of the night!
As for the rapid move into training pointers, “We already had horses at Paige’s Mum and Dad’s place, so thought we’d give it a go. We found the yard and, the day we moved in, Ben sent us four pre-trainers.” Luca’s first runner was Perfect Pirate, who gave him a maiden success at Paxford later in the year. His first full season provided five winners to go with one in each of the first two weekends of the current campaign. So, after such a flying start, how far off is a move into the professional ranks? “It’s an ambition,” confirms Luca, “But it’s a bit of a way off. It depends how the next couple of years go and I’m enjoying training the young horses.”
As we watch a group of unnamed 3yos canter round the indoor school, then up the all-weather gallop, before taking a few schooling hurdles, Luca outlines his plans for the season, starting with Givega, who pulled up at Hexham on his reappearance, but has come out of the race well. “I’d literally die for that horse,” he smiles. “He’ll probably have just three runs this year, going to Leicester for a Hunter Chase at the end of February – first prize was £7,000 last year – then to Punchestown (for the Irish Champion Hunter Chase). He’s better going right-handed than left and is fragile – he’s got feet like poppadoms!”
Other older horses include Just Lucky Sivola – “Who I got from Paul Nicholls, and who’ll go for Conditions Races, then possibly a Novice Hunter Chase” – and another talented but fragile prospect, the mare Rossea. “She won her Irish point-to-point and was then sold for £95,000,” Luca tells me, “Then got a leg. She was going to run last year but I stopped with her when the going got good. She’ll run in a Restricted.”
Obviously, some of our chat focuses on a horse no longer in the yard, Baron Du Brizais. Luca confirms how he came by the 4yo. “I went to Ireland with Dan Astbury and we bought four stores. I sold a filly privately and a Harzand gelding won a schooling race at Chaddesley Corbett and is now with Oliver Greenall. But Baron Du Brizais is the first of mine to run in a Young Horse Maiden, and the first to go through the ring.”
“I can’t afford pedigrees with my budgets,” explains Luca of how he and Dan select the stores they buy. “For the first group we bought, I looked for up and coming sires – like Capri, Harzand and Nirvana Du Berlais – with black type through the dam.”
“We’re getting towards the Irish model,” states Luca in relation to Young Horse Maidens. “The likes of Fran and Charlie Poste, Gina and Tom Ellis and Jack Teal are among those doing a fantastic job. The more people who have young horses, the greater the depth – it’s not about the publicity but the strength of the racing. At Lower Machen, we beat horses trained by Tom Lacey, Chris Barber, Josh Newman and the Postes, which showed the bonus race was working.”
The sale of Baron Du Brizais was bittersweet for Paige, as she explains. “My Dad, David, broke him in, and I’ve ridden him from the start, since he was a 3yo.” The 2019/2020 leading female novice rider, whose promising career was interrupted by Covid, confirms that she’s retired – “Unless there’s a particular horse that makes me want to come back.” Her time in the saddle was ended abruptly – and tragically – when her best horse, Garrettstown, was killed on the road by an errant driver. “I retired on the spot,” Paige says sadly. “Perfect Pirate was with him at the time, and wouldn’t go on a road again, which was hard, as we didn’t have gallops at home.”
One of the 4yos is Hexham second Via Romano, another Luca plans to sell, but the aforementioned J’Envoievalserenki will be staying at Sandall House and targeting the new 0-110 Series Final. “His highest rating in Ireland was 108,” says Luca, “And he’d probably be 6lb or 7lb higher over here. A series with a big final is a good thing as it gives you the chance to win decent prize money.”
“It would be good to have more finals,” Luca opines, “With higher prize money. Cheltenham and Stratford both come at the end of the season so suit the same horses who are running at that time of year. What about the early season horses? You could have, say, a final for Maiden winners in March, or a big Hunter Chase meeting in December.”
Indeed, Luca is generally positive about the new initiatives being introduced in the sport. “I’m glad that things are changing,” he confirms. “Having a slot on Racing TV is massive, the GB Pointing Bonus series is brilliant, and the social media is going in the right direction. We just need to make it more affordable for owners,” he concludes, before admitting, “But that’s a question to which I don’t know the answer! It’s hard to get owners to buy pointers when you can get £350 for finishing eighth under rules, more than you get for winning a point-to-point. People will spend money at the sales for a dream – winning a point-to-point isn’t a dream!”
My last question to Luca, as so often, is why he loves pointing, especially not having the sport in his blood. “I don’t know,” he confesses. “It’s hard to explain – if you presented a business plan for pointing to the Dragons Den, they’d laugh at you! I just love racing, and pointing’s more relaxed. And I love winning! Winning at the weekend is why I do it. My dream is to buy a horse at the Cheltenham Sales and come back to Cheltenham to win a race with it.”
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