Mouse Morris : His Extraordinary Racing Life

by Colley, Declan

• ISBN13: 9781905172856
• ISBN10: 1905172850
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-01-15
• Publisher: Dufour Editions

Summary

"Michael Mouse Morris, third son of Lord and Lady Killanin would never have been earmarked for a career in horse racing. It was a long way from an idyllic childhood at the ancestral home in Galway. Mouse began working at a racing stables aged fifteen after he was diagnosed as dyslexic and his formal education ended. He later joined Willie O'Grady's yard in Tipperary as its amateur jockey. When Edward O'Grady took charge they teamed up to win the Foxhunter's Chase at Cheltenham, the first of many successes at the festival. Mouse turned professional in 1975 and his wins included two Champion Chases at Cheltenham and the Irish Grand National before a crushing fall in the Colonial Cup in Carolina in 1977 ended his career as a jockey. But that didn't stop Mouse. He quickly established himself as a pre-eminent trainer, helped by blue-chip owners such as John Magnier, J. P. McManus and Tony O'Reilly. With a preference to train quality rather than quantity, Mouse has trained many big-race winners, most notably Michael O'Leary's War Of Attrition in the 2006 Gold Cup and Hear The Echo, a long-odds winner of the 2008 Irish Grand National. In this official biography of one of Irish racing's truly unique characters, jockeys, trainers, owners and stable lads express a rare fondness and respect for Mouse. Mouse himself speaks frankly of his wild ride on the racing rollercoaster, of days as a jockey, as a trainer, of financial hurdles, personal crises and tragedy."--BOOK JACKET.