Young driver Daniel Morgan juggles a full-time job alongside his harness racing career and will be racing at Newcastle tonight (Friday). Photo by ABP Photography
LIKE so many budding young reinsmen and women, 24-year-old Dan Morgan shares his time between his day job and working with a small team of horses alongside his father Paul.
The father-and-son team train eight horses just down the road from the Maitland Showground Paceway, an ideal spot with so much racing at nearby Newcastle.
“I have been driving for seven years now and have driven somewhere around 160 winners to date,” said Morgan.
“I have been lucky and very grateful that because of my concession claim, opportunities to drive nice horses have come my way.
“I work for a company that produces sheet metal, building sheds and barns.
“It is a fulltime job and sometimes it is a bit of a juggle getting away from work when we take horses to the races or if I have early drives at a meeting.
“We mostly race at Newcastle and Tamworth and occasionally venture further if we need to find suitable races for our horses.
“But I love what I do and would not have it any other way.”
Morgan said that while he was confident that he could snare a winner or two at Newcastle tonight, some tricky draws have made his task just that little bit harder.
“I have four drives tonight and a bit of a mixed bag with a couple that are going really well that unfortunately have drawn badly,” he said.
“All in all, you just have to deal with it, and I feel they can all be competitive.
“On paper, I feel Henwood looks very hard to beat.
“Gate one is ideal for her as she is a consistent type and is well graded in that class.
“Never Know Charlie is a big odds tonight but he has been racing really well in strong opposition.
“He won here back in October and we then took him to Menangle where he wasn’t beaten all that far.
“He was freshened after that and has run third at each of his past three starts.
“If I get some luck early from gate seven, I am confident he can get into the money again.
“I am also driving Tooshay for Ian Warby in Race 8 and I feel that he is getting better with each run.
“He wasn’t far away at his past two runs and I think he is in a winnable race.”
