Cody Morgan on Training Racehorses in Tamworth

0:00 Visiting Cody Morgan's stable and how he places horses

Cody Morgan 0:00 Episode 15 of Off N Racing, we're here at Cody Morgan's facility in Tamworth. Thanks for having us, Cody. No, thank you. And how are you? Very good. The weather's really improved over last week. It's been a pretty cold, dreary winter, wet winter up here, so sun's out and the grass is growing, so it's good. Brilliant. And two winners at the most recent, um, um, at Tamworth last Friday? Yeah, no, it was good. You sort of, each week when you can get a couple of winners on the board, you can get a couple of winners on the board. It takes the pressure off for seven days or so. And career winning strike rate as a trainer, uh, approximately 20%. Um, so what has made you successful over the years? I think coming back from, I've always enjoyed the, the form side of it from, um, when I was an apprentice jockey, so you're always doing the form. Yep. Uh, I just think that you place your horses as well as possible. Um, a lot of those are, are in the country, um, but, uh, yeah, if you can place them well, scratch them when they're not right or when you draw bad barriers. And, um, yeah, I think that when you're trying to always get new clients on board, I think it's very important to have a good strike rate.

1:12 Why riding track work is an advantage

Sean 1:12 Excellent. As a, as a former jockey, is it an advantage to be able to ride your own track work and things like that?

Cody Morgan 1:17 Most definitely. Um, like I, I've ridden track work on and off over, like I broke my leg really bad riding track work probably two years ago. And then since then I sort of made about four or five comebacks in between when I don't have enough rides. Did you have those pins and that's all? Yeah, I've had, it was a bad, really bad break. I got hung up and knocked out and what have you. And then, um, we won the 10th cup the next day I was in hospital and it was sort of during COVID and then, um, it, it didn't heal. So then I had to get a bone graft out of my hip rebroken. So it was nearly two years of crutches and so forth. Um, but yeah, it's, it's really good now. And, uh, just recently sort of being back riding work and it's a, it's definitely an advantage. Like I literally rode a horse track work. I think it was probably last week and, uh, it was a last start winner and I rode it and I was like, I don't love this horse. You know, he doesn't feel like he's going to go on and win plenty of races. So it just made it a lot easier to sort of be able to ring the owners and go, you know, I think we should, you know, move this horse on and, and you're just a lot more confident. Uh, my brother had actually come in a couple of days earlier and give it a gallop and, um, he was sort of the same opinion. So I'm very lucky that, you know, between us, we've rode a lot of winners and, um, sort of helps identify which horses to keep pushing on with.

2:42 The facility, 30 horses and a typical week

Sean 2:42 Excellent. And we've just had a good half an hour. You're showing us around the really state of the art facilities.

Cody Morgan 2:47 Yeah, it's something I'm really proud of and it's probably three to six months away from being completely finished. But, um, I bought this place probably seven years ago and it was always, uh, my intention to sort of do it right up to where, uh, you know, I was apprentice to Tony McAvoy at Lindsay Park and obviously they train on a property. Um, so it was always my intention to sort of build it up to where they can sort of get out in paddocks of an afternoon and put a track in and what have you. But it's, it's literally taken seven years to set what you see today and probably six months away from being completely finished.

Sean 3:21 No, it looks amazing. I mean, like the fencing, um, you've done a proper job.

Cody Morgan 3:25 No, thank you. Yeah, no, it's, um, just try to have it as safe as possible. And when owners like yourselves come up and you just look about and you think, well, we might be in Tamworth, but you want to be able to give a first class, um, job. And that's, I feel like we can do that with the facilities we've got.

Sean 3:43 And they're all happy, like the sun, they've got sun in their boxes, fresh air. Like it's, it's quite rare that horses have this environment.

Cody Morgan 3:50 Yeah, for sure. Uh, they're really big boxes and, uh, I just find that, you know, putting them on the truck and going in and out takes about eight minutes, but it's, we've had some horses that have come to us that have been quite mad and then they've gone to my brother first. Cause obviously I, you know, I'm very lucky in that regard to have Luke and then they come here and they're in on the truck, stand up the tie ups and, uh, it's really quiet them down for sure.

Sean 4:14 Yeah. And how many house, how many horses in work?

Cody Morgan 4:17 We always, uh, we can cater 30 here and that's sort of good. I purposely didn't build any more than 30, so I can't have any more than 30. And it's just a nice number that we can, um, work with, you know, if we get down to 25 or up to 30 again, we're in at the track over the last, uh, few years, we've had 50 in work. And I just find that you do get away from being hands on and you do miss stuff. Um, where with this number, it feels a lot, uh, you're on top of a lot more.

Sean 4:47 And then when you talk about hands on, so what would the average day be like?

Cody Morgan 4:51 Yeah, well, at the moment we'll go in, um, and saddle up. We'll take the first, I'll drive the car and float in. Um, a truck driver will drive the truck in. Uh, and then he sort of back and forth where I'll stay in and, uh, ride track work. Uh, Tuesdays is normally, um, we get home and, uh, the last load about nine o'clock and that's bet day. Um, Thursday afternoon, religiously, as the car just pulled up, it's media. Um, we, she comes up. Um, and does a great job and takes photos of all the horses and walk ups on a Thursday arvo. So those two days are, you know, they never really change, um, too much. Um, afternoons are pretty, pretty quiet here.

Sean 5:33 Your most enjoyable job there, the media?

Cody Morgan 5:36 Yeah, look, Kelly does a great job.

Sean 5:38 But the owners need a day alone.

Cody Morgan 5:39 Literally, uh, Kelly's here. She'll go to the track first and take videos every Thursday morning of all the horses. And then she'll come out after lunch. Just works really well. She'll come out in the afternoon and we, um, walk them all up and what have you. And then Friday morning is, um, you know, we'll get the audios out. So, but it's just, if you want to train now, it's just part of the job. Yep.

6:00 Stern Reminder and Snap Decision

Sean 6:00 So two, two Kurrinda horses that we've just had a look at. Yeah. Um, maybe you could bring us up to speed of the progress of Stern Reminder.

Cody Morgan 6:08 Yeah, for sure. Um, so Stern, he's come along good. Uh, we give him a real quiet trial, the first one. His second trial, Aaron Bullock rode him, um, proved out of sight as I, um, said to Sean he would, uh, you know.

Sean 6:20 Codes rang me the night before. He goes, don't stress out this first trial, mate. He's going to have a soft one. I looked at the results. I'm like, holy ***. Yeah, it was soft. Yeah. And he rang me. He goes, I told you, don't, don't stress.

Cody Morgan 6:30 I rang him up and I rattled off about half a dozen horses in the, like, I just normally, um, go to the trials pretty soft that first one. And I just literally let them follow them around. And then the second trial, I like to see a good improvement. And if you don't see a good improvement, it's normally a good indication that they're not going very well. Um, and if they don't trial well the second time, I'll trial them a third time. Um, and if they don't trial well, they're normally out the gate or back in the paddock. Um, so that's the way I like to, to do it and we'll continue to do it that way.

Sean 6:59 Yep. Awesome. And snap decision.

Cody Morgan 7:01 Yeah, no, I've been riding him where he's got a lovely action on him, but he's just, he's going to take time. And we knew that from the, uh, the get go. Um, he's sort of a horse I would imagine that would like to get him to the trials this time in. Um, but I'd say the sort of kicking off after Christmas, most likely, um, you never say never. Uh, he could really come on from one trial to the next. And before you know it, I'm on the phone saying, Sean, probably should send this around. He's really come on. Yep. But if not, you just make a decision, um, to sort of tip him out and go again, uh, after Christmas.

Sean 7:31 But there's no pressure. Like we've said, I think we've spoken on the phone. And we're like, there's, we, and we, I think we've only probably spoken a few times on the phone. Yeah. I just let Coe do his, do his role. And it's, there's no pressure. They're, when they're ready, they're ready. Uh, and you know, the animal comes first.

Cody Morgan 7:46 It does. And you just, I've always tried to treat him like I own him myself. And at the end of the day, we're only getting paid if they're really, if they're going and doing well. So we want to get to the races as much as anyone, but if we're going to get there and not do well, well, we might as well wait. And it's just, yeah, pretty black and white.

8:03 Luke Morgan's pre-training system

Sean 8:03 And then both of those horses have come through Luke Morgan's system.

Cody Morgan 8:07 Yeah. As most of mine do. I'm very lucky like that. Um, you know, they'll be at Luke's, like, it's so easy because I'll, I'll see him at the track or what have you. And he'll be like, I'll say, I'll look, that one's due to come to me. He's like, it'll be here for another month. You know, like, so he knows where they're at or one might be there only two weeks. He's like, this seems just going really well. You might as well take it earlier. So it does work in really well like that. And then just even the last bit where I had a couple of riders get injured and what have you. He's been able to ring him and, um, got to pay him, but he does come in and like, it's just so handy for him to be able to do gallops for me. And, uh, he doesn't say much like he got off a couple the other morning and, uh, reflecting fame, he galloped him. I said, gonna win you. Yeah. And, um, yeah, but that, that was about the extent of it. You know, it won. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep. Oh, it's look, I've.

Sean 9:01 How many mad ones can you tip out to him and go, this thing, fix that up?

Cody Morgan 9:05 Yeah. Oh, it's been time and time again. Like, you know, even when I had Taubragar and different ones like that, he'd done a, you know, really good job, but not only Luke, uh, obviously Brodie Cummings, that's very simple. He's number one Australia saddle bronc riding this year. And he, he's good mates. The three of us are good friends. And he, um, he's had to deal with a lot of the ones where Luke will say, Hey, make sure Brodie rides that particular horse, um, track work until it's for the foreseeable future. Um, yeah.

Sean 9:36 Do they enjoy the mad ones? Not really?

Cody Morgan 9:39 It just doesn't, it's not that they enjoy it. I just think it doesn't bother them. Yeah. You know, they're just built differently to where they can. Luke's just so calm and so's Brodie. That's their attribute. I've never seen them get up a horse ever. You know, like they just go with them. That's the best way to describe it. Yep.

9:55 The jockeys Cody uses

Sean 9:55 And two of your most common jockeys, Braith Dock and Aaron Bullock, um, what's the partnership there or what do you do?

Cody Morgan 10:01 Yeah. Yeah. So Aaron's literally rode my first winner, uh, I think 12, 14 years ago at least. And he's ridden for me ever since. And, um, Braith, I've known through, grow up, watching him grow up through the rodeo ranks. And I just, you know, if he's trending the right way, I just can't see how he, if things, if even luck, I can just see him winning a Sydney premiership, um, as an apprentice at some point. Um. I agree. I think he's trending that way. Yeah. Oh, for sure. He's just got so much natural talent. He'll be in town soon. Yeah. Yeah. And I just hope he keeps coming back up to, um, cause I'm quite lucky cause he can ride 55 where Aaron, you know, they've got to get Aaron's sort of weight. Uh, obviously Aaron's heavier, but the common thing that I find with both of them, um, they'll come out of the room and, um, we'll hardly talk about it. You know, the really good jockeys, you literally tell them nothing, you know, and like, um, yeah, they just go and get the job done. And, um, if they're not good enough, they're not good enough.

Sean 11:01 And the feedback post race, I find Aaron's spot on, isn't he?

Cody Morgan 11:04 Oh, for sure. And, and Braith's getting, yeah, both of them are really good. And, um, yeah, they'll be frank if they don't think the horse has got much of a future either.

11:14 Cody's riding career and Lindsay Park

Sean 11:14 Uh, bit, bit more about you before being a trainee, you were a jockey, 146 wins. Um, any memorable wins that you'd like to share?

Cody Morgan 11:23 Always the first ones. Um, you know, I always remember that obviously I was, um, apprentice, uh, to Tim Martin, like way back when I was, I left school in year nine and so did Luke. And, um, with both with the proviso that if we didn't make it as jockeys, we had to go back to school and I didn't want to go back to school. So we really tried our best. Um, I come through with Mitchell Bell. We had our first race ride in the same race, uh, Krindai. And, uh, Tim was the dominant trainer up here at the time. Well, the whole time he trained up this way before he went to Sydney and he had two in the race and he brought up an apprentice from Sydney, Mitch Newman, who was the leading apprentice in Sydney at the time. And put him on the $2 favorite and put me on the outsider. I think knowing full well that mine was the one going better. And I was completely unknown to it and I really didn't know where I was. The gates opened and yeah, they, I'm sure Tim and Craig looked after me and, um, it won. And I thought, how easy is this? And it was a lot harder than, than the first thought, but it was really good. I outrode my country claim. And then, um, always say if I was a horse, I was placed very well because I probably would have went to Sydney and not done. Um, I would have rode a few winners without a claim, but instead, um, they sent me to South Australia and I'll, yeah, like literally won a premiership over there, got to ride some really good horses. And there's not a better environment in Australia to, for an apprentice than Lindsay Park, because you, you literally, there's no fast food. You're living out in the country, um, very safe environment. And, uh, yeah, Tony McAvoy was head trainer at the time. And yeah, it was very good apprenticeship over there.

Sean 13:08 So one of those horses would have been in Fields of Ovo?

Cody Morgan 13:10 Yeah. Yeah. He's probably always say the best horse I ever rode. Um, I galloped him on the Tuesday morning, but before he beat one row in the Cox Plate that year. And, um, he got beat in that gallop. And I still remember the horse's name. He galloped with a horse called Cognac Fantasy. And I won a class one on it the next day on the Sunday at Strathalbun by Nose. And he got beat in the gallop on the Tuesday. And, um, yeah, I remember going over to the hut post-gallop on the Tuesday. And they're like, I was just not cheeky, but I was like, how'd he go? I said, he'll beat Long Row Saturday. And not knowing what I was saying at the time. After he just got beaten by a class one horse. Yeah. And then I look back now and yeah, like just such a great horse. And I wasn't over there at the time when he, um, won his second Cox Plate.

Sean 14:00 And for the listeners, what's the difference of a feel with a different gravy horse like that?

Cody Morgan 14:07 Strength, balance, mind, temperament and heart. Like I've literally tried to think about it. Like when I sort of come back and started training after I was an apprentice and everyone was like, you would have learnt lots at Lindsay Park to train. And obviously I've got the ideas about being out on the farm and what have you. But when I was there, I was jogging 18k a week and not eating. So I didn't really learn much about training because I was a jockey over there. But, um, yeah, like I look back now and just think what a wonderful job they did training fields of Omar. Because he wasn't a sound horse at all. And, you know, they'd work him on Sundays. And yeah, he was just my horse to ride there the year that, well, 18 months I was over there. And he was just, um, yeah, the best one I've ridden for sure.

14:54 The country races Cody wants to win

Sean 14:54 That's the Cox Plate. Is there a race that you'd love to win as a trainer?

Cody Morgan 14:57 Yeah, there's a, as a country trainer, there's obviously two. Um, it's the Cosi Osco and the country championship final. Um, fourth is as close as I've got in the Cosi and we run second in the country championship final, um, couple of seasons ago. So we're very lucky in race with race in New South Wales. They've literally put goals for country trainers. Now I think, you know, 10, 15 years ago, you were just whacking away, doing your best where now I feel like any leading country trainer are doing probably just as much media as the city trainers, really.

Sean 15:31 Um, and we're like, you're playing 12 months out now, don't you? Like probably more.

Cody Morgan 15:35 Literally, like it's, um, the horses now, like they could be winning in March, April and you think, well, we'll put this one away for a Cosi Osco or what have you. So there, and you've sort of literally got two grand finals, one at the start of the year with the country championships, one at the back end of the year with the Cosi Osco. And, uh, they're just great races to be involved in. And hopefully one day I could win, win either. I'd be happy.

16:00 The future for Cody Morgan Racing

Sean 16:00 Brilliant. And what's the future for Cody Morgan racing?

Cody Morgan 16:03 Yeah, really, uh, it's in its infinite stage, um, as far as getting this set up out here, um, and sort of continually try to have a really good strike rate. Uh, no intentions to move, no intentions to get bigger. It's just about maintaining a really good strike rate. And, um, that's my biggest thing I reckon. And just churning out winners and keep turning them over.

Sean 16:27 I think you'll find is, well, it's only my appeal with what I've seen in the pool, like the money that you've spent here, your horses are running well now, but I think they're going to go to another level.

Cody Morgan 16:36 I hope so, Sean. Yeah. Like it's literally being able to just get them out in paddocks after they run and different things like that with the, yeah, the treadmill and the different things like that with the treadmill turns up next week. And obviously we've got a half mile track, uh, that will be in use and 50 meter pool. Um, it's all there. Uh, I think as a country stable, I'd, I'd like to think that there wouldn't be many that would match what we've got here at the moment. And hopefully, um, the results reflect that in the coming years.

Sean 17:02 Yeah. Thanks for meeting up, eh? Not a problem at all.

Cody Morgan 17:04 Thank you, man. Good to see you.

Sean 17:05 Thanks Cody. Cheers. Thank you.