Morley Street

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Morley Street
SireDeep Run
Grandsire
Breeders' Cup Steeplechase (1990, 1991)
Ascot Hurdle (1990, 1991)
Berkshire Hurdle (1991)
Champion Hurdle (1991)
Elite Hurdle (1992)
Awards
American Champion Steeplechase Horse
(1990, 1991)

Morley Street (1984-–2009) was an Irish racehorse. He was a specialist

Breeders' Cup Steeplechase
.

Background

Morley Street was a chestnut horse with a large white star, bred in Ireland by Marshall Parkhill. He was sired by Deep Run, an outstanding sire of jumpers whose other progeny included Dawn Run and Golden Cygnet. Morley Street's dam, High Board, was not a Thoroughbred, being a descendant of the mare Arab Maid, whose pedigree on her mother's side was uncertain. Arab Maid's other descendants included the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Easter Hero.[1] Two years after Morley Street was foaled, High Board produced his full brother Granville Again, who won the Champion Hurdle in 1993.

Morley Street was bought as an unraced three-year-old by the British businessman Michael Jackson, who first raced the horse in the name of his Salehurst Paper Company. The horse was named after a street close to Jackson's Salehurst office, near

Lasix but was banned under British racing rules from using medication on race days.[4]

Racing career

1988–1990: early career

Morley Street began his racing career by winning a

5/1 second favourite and finished fourth of the twenty-two runners behind Sayfar's Lad, Trapper John and Knight Oil. At Aintree Racecourse a month later, Morley Street recorded his first major win when he defeated Trapper John by one and a half lengths in the Mumm Prize Novices' Hurdle.[5]

In the first half of the 1989/1990 season, Morley Street ran in three hurdle races, winning once and finishing second in the other two. His victory came in a leg of the Sport of Kings challenge series, in which the beaten horses included the leading American steeplechaser Jamaica Bay. At Cheltenham in March, Morley Street made his first challenge for the Champion Hurdle. He started at odds of 10/1 in a field which included the previous champions Beech Road and See You Then, and finished fifth of the nineteen runners behind Kribensis. Following his run in the Champion Hurdle, Jackson transferred the ownership of Morley Street his Michael Jackson Bloodstock company. In April, he returned to Aintree for the Aintree Hurdle over two and a half miles and started odds-on favourite. He took the lead at the last hurdle and accelerated clear to win by fifteen lengths.[6]

1990–1993: peak years

The 1990/1991 season was intended to be the one in which Morley Street would establish himself as a steeplechaser. He warmed up for the season by having his first race under Flat racing rules, in which he recorded an upset win over

Eclipse Awards.[9]

Morley Street was returned to hurdle racing after a break and won the Grade II Berkshire Hurdle at Newbury in March before running in his second Champion Hurdle. He started 4/1 favourite in a field of twenty-four runners. Frost sent Morley Street into the lead between the last two hurdles, and the gelding ran on in the closing stages to win by one and a half lengths from Nomadic Way.[10] On his final start of the season, Morley Street won a second Aintree Hurdle, beating Nomadic Way by six lengths.

In the late summer of 1991, Morley Street briefly returned to Flat racing. He ran poorly in the Lonsdale Stakes at York but showed top-class staying form when finishing second by a short head to Great Marquess in the Doncaster Cup. In October, he was again sent to the United States for the Breeders' Cup Chase, run at Fair Hill Racecourse. He started odds-on favourite and won by nine and three quarter lengths from Declare Your Wish[11] in a course record time.[12] The performance was enough to earn him a second Eclipse award.[13] Morley Street won a second Ascot Hurdle in November and was then rested until February when he ran in the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown Racecourse. He started odds-on favourite but was narrowly beaten by the locally trained Chirkpar. He started 2/1 favourite for the Champion Hurdle, with his younger brother Granville Again being the 9/2 second choice in the betting. Morley Street was in contention two hurdles from the finish, but failed to quicken and ran sixth behind Royal Gait. He ended the season with a third victory in the Aintree Hurdle, beating the Irish mare Minorettes Girl by half a length.[14]

Morley Street won a flat race at Doncaster in October, and then began the new National Hunt season by beating Granville Again in the Elite Hurdle at Cheltenham in November. He failed to run up to his best form when finishing second as odds-on favourite in the Ascot Hurdle and was then beaten in races at Cheltenham and Sandown. In his third Champion Hurdle, he made no impression and finished twelfth behind Granville Again. In the Aintree Hurdle, Granville Again was made 10/11 favourite, and journalists predicted "further humiliation" for the former champion.[15] Morley Street, however, returned to his best and defeated his younger brother by one and a half lengths. The win made him the first horse to win the Grade I race on four occasions.[16]

1993–1995: later career

After his win at Aintree in April 1993, Morley Street never won again. A return to steeplechasing in late 1993 brought no success, and he was pulled up in the 1994 Champion Hurdle. He was unplaced in four flat races in 1994 and finished fourth when sent to compete in a hurdle race at Merano in Italy that autumn. After spending a year in retirement at his owner's farm in East Sussex, Morley Street became restless and was returned to training.[4] In November 1995, he showed some signs of a return when finishing third in the Ascot Hurdle, but was retired after finishing unplaced in the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot a month later.

Retirement

Morley Street died at the age of twenty-five on 26 February 2009. Toby Balding described him as "without a doubt the most versatile horse that I trained."[3]

Pedigree

Pedigree of Morley Street (GB), chestnut gelding, 1984[17]
Sire
Deep Run (GB)
1966 		Pampered King
1954 		Prince Chevalier Prince Rose
Chevalerie
Netherton Maid Nearco
Phase
Trial By Fire
1958 		Court Martial Fair Trial
Instantaneous
Mitrailleuse Mieuxce
French Kin
Dam
High Board (GB)
1977 		High Line
1966 		High Hat Hyperion
Madonna
Time Call Chanteur
Aleria
Matchboard
1963 		Straight Deal Solario
Good Deal
Royal Alliance King Hal
Queens Arms (Arab Maid family)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "HB Arab Maid". Tbheritage.com. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  2. Baltimore Sun
    . 1991-10-11. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  3. ^ a b "Morley Street". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  4. ^ a b Rooney, Kevin (1995-11-17). "Another episode of Morley Street". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  5. ^ "Mumm Novices' Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  6. ^ "1990 Aintree Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  7. ^ "Breeders' Cup Chase". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  8. ^ "Noel Novices' Chase". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  9. Star-Banner
    . 10 February 1991. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  10. ^ "Champion Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  11. ^ "1991 Breeders' Cup Chase". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  12. ^ "Frost wins Breeders' Cup on Morley Street". Telegraph Herald. October 13, 1991. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  13. ^ "Eclipse a Black Tie Affair". Record-Journal. 2 February 1992. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  14. ^ "1992 Aintree Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  15. ^ Bakare, Peter (1993-04-03). "Party over for Street". The Independent. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  16. ^ "1993 Aintree Hurdle". Racing Post. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  17. ^ "Morley Street pedigree". equineline.com. 2012-05-08. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
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