Luke Morris spoke about his 2,000th career winner by linking Simon Dow’s Recuerdame to victory at Lingfield on Monday.
Known as one of the hardest working jockeys in the weigh room, Morris has been ridden over 100 winners a year since 2011 and landed number 94 for 2022 in the Spreadex Sports Get £50 In Bonuses Handicap.
Although he has yet to reach the century this season, it is only fitting that career number 2000 winner came in the season when Morris enjoyed notable success in Group One aboard Alpinista, culminating with the glory of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp in October.
The coach who has provided the most of those 2000 winners is Morris’s longtime ally and Alpinista coach Sir Mark Prescott.
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Eight of Morris’ nine Group 1 victories as a jockey have been for the Heath House master, while his haul total for Prescott stands at 366 in the UK with other overseas successes including Marsha, winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye.
“It’s a great tribute to his professionalism, reliability and work ethic,” Prescott said. “The eight Group 1 winners he rode for me show how good he is on the big day as well.
“However, he and I have a place to go before we reach the 700+ winners George Duffield has ridden for me!”
Dream victory for Williams
Stuart Williams’ Hubert’s dream continued their upward curve by doing everything to take BetUK’s Acca Club £5 Free Bet Nursery Handicap the easy way.
The 1-5 favorite was recording his third straight win at Lingfield in the space of a fortnight and the colt owned by Opulence Thoroughbreds could prove to be an exciting prospect for next year.
“I was very happy with the win,” Williams said. “Obviously the race had stalled a bit and it was a race that was put together at short notice which was fine with us and I think he did that pretty well.
“He’s going to put on a good chunk tomorrow morning I imagine and hopefully this win will swallow up some of the penalty.
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“I haven’t spoken to Opulence Thoroughbreds yet about what we’re going to do in the future. Obviously we’re going to move up in rank, if there’s a program for a three-year-old all-weather sprinter, we’ll have to I watch.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine on the turf too, he was a late colt and it just took a bit of time for the penny to drop with him, but he understands now.”
The usual end point to quickly improve all-weather sprinters up threes is the stakes of three-year all-weather championships conditions on the day of the all-weather finals at Newcastle in the spring. However, Williams thinks he has a good improvement to find to reach this level.
“It’s possible,” added Williams. “He would have to go up a bit in the handicap to be considered for that. It’s usually won by a horse rated at 100 or more and he won’t be anywhere near that yet, but hopefully he will get to that level.
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