Back Online!

Alas, after a slight hiatus (about a year) we are back online with the Tom Morley Blog. Last year I was in a position to do it myself, but I just don’t have the time anymore. That’s just one of the things that happens when your operation grows.

But that’s going to change going forward. There will be a blog and it will be updated regularly. I am committed to this task and Neal Benoit (of GettingOutOfTheGate.com) is going to give me a hand to make sure that it happens.

We’ve gathered together a very good group of owners now and we continue to get more horses from them. The Stable size has grown from April two years ago, starting with one horse, to the 33 horses we now have on the grounds at Belmont, along with probably another dozen two-year-olds coming in soon, and a handful of older horses who are having a midseason break.  So our total on the books now would be closer to 50. That’s a really good place for us to be after only a couple years of operation.

The backbone of the Stable is now made up of homebreds or horses that we purchased at Yearling sales or two-year-old sales. I think I’m right in saying the oldest horse in the barn right now is five. So really the crux of the barn is made up of two and three-year-olds. The two-year-olds are at training centers where I can see them on a regular basis. At the moment, I feel like I can keep a good handle on each horse individually. Even though our numbers have increased rapidly, I don’t feel we’ve lost any attention to detail.

We now have two full-time assistants (Sarah O’Brien and Pearl Hagadorn) and a foreman (Tauno Vannucci) along with eight grooms and eight hot walkers. It’s a very different structure of business here, especially with us going up to Saratoga. We will be leaving about 20 horses behind at Belmont and taking 16 up to Saratoga so I need an assistant and foreman in each place now – they are all part of the team. Maggie obviously still plays a pivotal role.  She comes in and gets on her horses in the morning but then she has her own job in the afternoon so she’s a little less involved in the administrative side of the business now. Poor Maggie, there aren’t enough hours in the day for her to do everything she’d like to do.

We have 16 stalls at Saratoga so that means we are going to have to leave some horses behind here at Belmont. I will rotate a lot of the horses, a horse that is only going to have one start at the meet will come back down here after that start. Belmont is a very peaceful place when everything is at Saratoga so it can be a good place for a horse to relax after they’ve had a race. Some horses will race out of the Belmont barn because they will benefit from the quieter atmosphere there instead of being in Saratoga.

Getting married to Maggie (in June) hasn’t changed anything in the barn to be honest. Outside of that, we own a house together and the dog and now the relationship has grown and gotten deeper. So obviously we’re having a terrific time learning more about each other. Her role in Morley racing is still one of my leading riders on some of the best horses in the barn. And honestly she’s becoming better and better on the horse, and her feedback is valuable to me.

That’s a quick look at where we are now.  On the website, in addition to the blog being restarted, we will be implementing changes to make it more functional to followers of our stable. Included will be a list of “horses in training” with information about the horse and a link to their Equibase page.  Also, we will be updating the photographs and all of the Bios for the management team at Tom Morley Stable.

In future posts (soon to come) we will be sharing near and far term plans for Morley racing.  So we’re happy to be back online and we hope you enjoy following us throughout the Saratoga meet … and beyond.

Tom Morley