By Jordan Gerrans
Standing at 6'2 in the old height scale, Joshua Morrow was in desperate need of future plans when he was an apprentice jockey.
The 25-year-old made a good fist of the riding caper – collecting five winners from almost 100 opportunities on race day – before he was eventually forced to pull the pin.
The Darling Downs-based Morrow completed his last ever race ride in June of 2020 and has since transitioned into his second phase of his tenure in the racing game.
After working under leading Clifford Park trainer and breeder Steve Tregea during his time as an apprentice, Morrow believes he gained the knowledge and connections needed to shift into his own training career, as well as pre-training and breaking in for other barns.
It all came full circle for Morrow on Saturday afternoon at Texas Jockey Club as he collected his maiden win as a trainer with former barrier rogue Lynric Lass.
The former Central Queensland-based mare had developed a reputation as a trouble maker at the starting gates but Morrow went back to basics with her and changed a few pieces of gear and he eventually worked her out.
“She had been through a couple of trainers and just would not go into the gates,” he remembers.
“She was very tough early on with the barrier issues obviously but we worked that out and there has been no looking back since.
“It was fantastic to train my first winner with her, just to get the monkey off my back.
“It is one of things that you work hard to get and I kept getting my horses to run into the placings so it was great to finally crack the winner.”
The rookie Morrow yard had been knocking on the door to prepare their first winner, with Lynric Lass running in the money on three occasions before she finally broke through for her new trainer.
Rockhampton-based owner Lynette Sullivan was delighted she made the decision to keep her galloper with Morrow after he was originally engaged to sort out her barrier concerns.
“She is about 80 and lives in Rocky and her late husband’s name was Ric and that is how they came up with the name,” Morrow said.
“She was over the moon to win another race with her.”
The win came in Benchmark 50 grade over 1200 metres with impressive apprentice hoop Emily Lang doing the riding.
The breakthrough triumph came at start 20 for Morrow as a trainer.
Walking around at the same height as many professional basketballers or footballers, Morrow’s time as a professional jockey were always set to be limited.
He is yet to come across another jockey who is taller than he is.
“Guys like Luke Dittman and James Orman are tall but I am bigger than them,” Morrow said.
“I have never actually met Stephen Brown down in Victoria but from what I have been told, I am a little bit taller than him (laughs).”
While it was only short-lived, the former jockey is proud of what he accomplished in the saddle.