Hard-working journeyman jockey Luke Morris recounts how he landed a famous triumph on Sir Mark Prescott-trained Alpinista in Europe’s richest race, the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
Luke Morris, 33, would be the first to admit he has not had a lot of chances at G1 level. Renowned for his dedicated work ethic, travelling the length and breadth of the country to ride anywhere, Morris has partnered nearly 2,000 winners in Britain alone.
Only two of those were G1 victories, but he has scored nine times at the highest level altogether when the rest of Europe is taken into account.
Six of those wins have come on Alpinista, with whom he landed a hugely popular success in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, where after meticulous preparation Morris rewarded his supporters with a perfectly executed ride on the Sir Mark Prescott-trained grey mare. Here, in his own words, he reveals how he pulled it off.
Going into a 20-runner Arc, with a bigger field than normal, you are almost fearing the worst and expecting things to go wrong. To be honest, though, I couldn’t believe how simple it was and how the race went so much to plan.
Stall six was a fantastic draw and from there I was able to keep it nice and simple and stick to the plan that Sir Mark and I had gone through in the morning. Everything went absolutely swimmingly. Approaching the turn into the straight I was almost taking her back and even at the two pole she was still running away in my hands.
No stone unturned
All week I had been watching videos of every Arc, and every lead up to try to do my homework. I am not Frankie Dettori or Ryan Moore and I’ve not had a ride in the Derby, so I am only going to get one or two shots at these premier races. So you just want to leave no stone unturned.
The evening before Sir Mark had sought advice from Alain de Royer-Dupre and he told him: ‘Make sure you tell your jockey to hold on – don’t go too soon’. I had also called up Johnny Murtagh for a bit of advice on riding the track and riding the Arc to make sure every box was ticked. Those bits of help were absolutely invaluable.
The pace was what I expected because Titleholder was a G1 winner over much further so I thought it would be a solid run race that would play to my strengths. The only thing at the back of my mind was I thought it was important I didn’t get excited and get sucked into the race too soon.
I was able to keep Alpinista in her comfort zone and conserve energy. Through the whole race she’s never had to do any work, apart from the last furlong. It was an unbelievable performance. You always dream of these days but you never think they will happen.
‘I was always very confident’
I was always very confident. I could see the green colours of Vadeni coming but Alpinista was very brave, dug in and squeezed out a bit more for me. She never wins by far so you never know quite how good she is.
You have to bottle these moments up. Lots of people told me to make sure I savour the moment because they don’t come around very often. To get the result you dream of was extra-special.
But to be honest I was more nervous before the Yorkshire Oaks as the only thing I thought that could get her beat was jockey error, whereas the Arc was a big open race in which anything could happen.
I’ve been with Sir Mark for 11 years now. It started just after I lost my claim, I was riding freelance and at the time was slightly nervous of getting brushed aside and forgotten about. I had to work extremely hard and Clive Cox gave me some fantastic opportunities riding good horses in good races.
That resulted in the win on Gilt Edge Girl in the Prix de l’Abbaye and the next season Sir Mark offered me a position to ride for him. It was fantastic to get the opportunity to ride horses for the likes of Cheveley Park Stud, Miss Rausing et cetera. It’s been a very fruitful relationship.
Myself, Sir Mark, Miss Rausing and William Butler travelled back together and had a few glasses of champagne on the plane but my partner Molly went over separately and didn’t get back till quite late. I was back home to babysit our ten-month-old son Henry so it was quite a quiet evening.
Luke Morris was speaking to Jon Lees
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