Thomas Morgan

Thomas Morgan

Article by Alan Trout

There were two jockeys named Thomas Morgan riding over jumps in the 1930s. This one, Thomas Francis Morgan, was less successful than his namesake but nonetheless rode 22 winners during the decade, including a double at Cheltenham in November 1932. 

Shown in the race results as ‘T. F. Morgan’ to differentiate him from the elder one, he rode his first winner when Mymering landed the Pegasus Cup, a two-mile handicap chase, at Fontwell Park on September 15, 1930, beating Here’s Hoping, the mount of Eric Foster, by two lengths. After that, there were a few successes each season, with a best score of six in 1932/33. 

He recorded six wins, including a walkover, on the selling chaser Melrush, and rode out his 5lb claim when recording his 15th win on Kiang at Torquay’s annual Easter fixture on April 3, 1934. 

He had two rides over the Liverpool fences, both in 1936. On November 12 he partnered Santa Klaus who completed the course ninth of eleven finishers in the Grand Sefton Chase. Two days later he finished a distant last of four, after falling and remounting, on the hard-pulling front-runner Airgead Sios in an incident-packed Valentine Chase. 

Thomas had his final victory at Kempton Park on December 27, 1937 on Snipe, trained at Epsom by Walter Nightingall, in the Chiswick Selling Handicap Chase, winning narrowly by a head. Although he held a licence for two more seasons there were no more winners. 

Thomas Morgan’s winners were, in chronological order:

1. Mymering, Fontwell Park, September 15, 1930

2. Dazzler, Lingfield Park, January 15, 1031

3. Remus, Sandown Park, March 19, 1931

4. Melrush, Torquay, March 29, 1932

5. Melrush, Folkestone, May 4, 1932

6. Melrush, Newton Abbot, August 1, 1932

7. Knave Of Kildare, Folkestone, September 5, 1932

8. Melrush, Cheltenham, November 17, 1932

9. Knight Bachelor, Cheltenham, November 17, 1932

10. Melrush, Lingfield Park, December 10, 1932

11. Melrush, Lingfield Park, January 11, 1933

12. Haytor, Sandown Park, January 31, 1934

13. Great Bear, Plumpton, March 15, 1934

14. Kiang, Hawthorn Hill, March 19, 1934

15. Kiang, Torquay, April 3, 1934

16. Marechal Niel, Wye, May 20, 1935

17. Marechal Niel, Hawthorn Hill, November 4, 1935

18. Marechal Niel, Hurst Park, December 13, 1935

19. Marechal Niel, Gatwick, January 4, 1936

20. Hornby Park, Towcester, October 10, 1936

21. Hornby Park, Sandown Park, October 22, 1936

22. Snipe, Kempton Park, December 27, 1937