Thanksgiving 2015

You come home from training and see there’s been a massive terrorist bombing in Paris or one of the Rugby greats has died at 40 because his body gave up on him and you realize there are things more important than bad rides, unlucky trips, and horse races.  I’m young and I’m healthy.  I have a wonderful wife, and my home, and my Jack Russell, and I’m doing what I love.  So I’m very grateful for that.

We sat there the night of the Paris bombings for two hours watching the news and we went to bed thinking … who cares if we got a bum ride in the afternoon at Aqueduct. There are people who lost family members and are living in absolute terror and fear because they don’t know what’s coming next.

We’re thankful for a barn full of horses, wonderful owners who are very supportive through these times.  Another trainer passed me one day and said, “Why are you looking so glum?”  I said, “Well it’s been 42 days since I trained a winner.”  He said, “I went from the peak of this game to having eleven horses and having to spend the winter in New York and not one of my horses hit the board for 76 days.  Keep your chin up and keep doing what you’re doing, because it will turn around.”  This trainer has since rallied to be very successful.

We have to give thanks for what we had last year, which was beyond any of our expectations.  Horses were winning when you didn’t even expect them to win, so this year when they’ve been beaten when you expect them to win, you realize what goes around comes around.

I’m looking forward to spending Christmas with my family.  My two younger brothers will be joining myself and Maggie, along with my mum and dad in Kenya. It will be like our wedding was in the middle of the summer.  On the way over to London we fly the night flight on the 17^th, arrive in England on the 18^th, have time to have lunch with my two older brothers and their families in London. Then we’ll fly down to Kenya and arrive on the 19^th, and stay there for a week.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving, these are the things that you have to savor, you really do … because you don’t know what the future holds.  My father has been in and out of the hospital for the last four years.  You just never know what will happen.

Maggie is doing just fine … hasn’t had to put on a fur coat yet at Aqueduct.  She gets on four or five horses for me every morning, before scuffling home, walking George, getting changed, and heading off to her afternoon job.  She’s excited to see another part of Africa this year.  We had been to South Africa in a prior year, but this will be quite different.  And it gives her a chance to break the winter up just a bit, and spend a week in what will be pretty warm temperatures compared to what we’re used to here.

The greatest thanksgiving I have this year is that I’ve been welcomed with open arms into Maggie’s family.  I’m a long way from home and that means a lot to me here.  I run horses in Maryland and I don’t have to worry about it … I just send the horses down there and they’re taken care of.  Maggie’s father might be a man of few words, but when you do get into a conversation with him about these sorts of things, he always has very straight advice.

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone.

– Tom Morley