Luca Morgan delighted with start to new venture

Luca Morgan is eyeing a trip to the Punchestown Festival, after Givega put his fledgling pre-training and point-to-point set-up in the spotlight with an impressive victory at Leicester last week.

A champion conditional in 2022-23, a battle with the scales saw his career in the saddle prematurely cut short, announcing his retirement in November 2023 at the age of just 22.

However, Morgan wasted little time switching careers and having acquired Givega at the sales, now has a horse he hopes can strongly advertise his ability in a different sphere.

“It’s very different to riding and I went from being a jockey in November and doing this in December,” explained Morgan.

“I didn’t stop for long and I didn’t really want to stop, it suited me great. But I can tell you it is a lot harder doing this than being a jockey.

“Obviously I was struggling with my weight and that was horrible a lot of the time, but I didn’t realise the other parts of being a jockey until doing this. I don’t think I appreciated how tough it would be but I’ve got an excellent team behind me and we’re all working towards the same goals.”

Givega made a winning debut between the flags for his new team at Larkhill, with recent Haydock winner My Drogo back in third, and further excelled when returning to the racecourse proper at Leicester, landing the Dick Saunders Novices’ Hunters’ Chase in the hands of James King by an emphatic 17 lengths.

Still only nine, Morgan is keen to avoid the bright lights of the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree this spring, but is instead targeting a raiding mission to Ireland before the season ends.

Morgan continued: “We’re very keen to look at Punchestown and the plan since we’ve had him was the race at Leicester – we’ve never wanted to go to Cheltenham or Aintree this season.

“Normally when you get these hunter chasers they have had tons of runs over fences but Larkhill was actually only his second run over fences and Leicester was his third and he jumped great.

“He’ll get put back in at Leicester later this month because the prize money is good but there is a race in Exeter in March which was my original plan and then we’re thinking straight to Punchestown.

“We will run him left-handed next season and make a plan early doors but he’s only nine and I know that’s no spring chicken but he’s no miles on the clock and he’s a horse who still needs calming down at home rather than winding up – he’s not going to slow down too soon I think.”

A highly-regarded novice hurdler when trained by Gary Moore, Givega – who is out of a sister to the great six-time Cheltenham Festival winner Quevega – made his final start for his old connections in November 2023 before reappearing for Morgan over a year later.

His new handler is relishing having a horse he has always admired heading the small team of pointers and hunter chasers he trains at his Sandall House base in Warwickshire, where he counts his former employer’s wife Sophie Pauling amongst the owners to back his new venture.

“We’re very lucky to have Givega, I ride him everyday and we love him to bits here,” added Morgan.

“He’s not the easiest to train and he’s got a few little problems he’s always had and when I got him from the Moore family, Jamie Moore was very good in helping us with what issues he’s had previously, which has helped massively in keeping on top of them.”

He went on: “I got all excited when his name came up for sale as I remembered him from when I was riding as a horse who really impressed me when he was a novice hurdler. I was really keen to get him and luckily we did.

“He’s got a ridiculous amount of ability and if he didn’t have the problems I’ve just mentioned then he wouldn’t be hunter chasing anyway, he would probably be dining at the top table.

“We’ve got foals, are pre-training some and some point-to-pointers as well. We’ve got about 40 horses in total at the yard at the minute. We’ve got around 10 or 12 pointers and hunter chasers, Perfect Pirate was my first winner for Sophie Pauling and we’ve just gone from there.

“We’re very lucky with the facilities we’ve got and we’ve put a sand gallop in and are very happy with it. We take a lot of pride in our facilities and I’d like to think they’re right up there with some of the best pre-training and point-to-point yards in the country.”