Welcome to Morson Sport
At Morson our sports sponsorships are borne out of an ambition to attract skilled, hard working individuals to build high performing teams, whether on the rugby pitch, in the ring or in the world of work.
Our sport stars showcase the behaviours which we champion; team work, dedication and the ability to over come challenges. Our work with our sport stars spans beyond sponsorship and enables us to inspire our clients, candidates and employee's and give back to the communities in which we work.
We are involved with a range of sports from boxing and MMA to Rugby Union, Rugby League and golf. Morson CEO, Ged Mason, co-owns premiership rugby team Sale Sharks, sponsors Paul Nicholls Stables and supports local sporting establishments Eccles Boxing Gym, West Freestyle Martial Arts and the Manchester Academy of Gymnastics.
Morson are notably main sponsors of Salford Red Devils Rugby League and legendary boxers Anthony Crolla and Callum Smith.
Keep up to date with the latest from Morson Sport
Morson are involved in a range of sports from Rugby League and Union to boxing, horse racing, golf and MMA. So, to keep up to date with the latest from Salford Red Devils plus so much more, subscribe to our sports newsletter via the link below.
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Sale Sharks 28-7 Saracens: Game Day Highlights
Match Report: The Sharks wasted no time settling into the game and made an immediate impact, as Denny Solomona crashed over for a first-minute try in his return to the side. Rob du Preez added the extras as the home side sent a clear message of attacking intent to the inexperienced Sarries side from the get go. A dropped ball from Saracens wasn’t to go unpunished in the 15th minute, as Jono Ross set Marland Yarde free, and the winger used his blistering pace to draw his man and send Will Cliff clear through for the second try of the night. Rob du Preez made no mistake with the follow up, and Sale were cruising with a 14-0 lead after an explosive opening 15 minutes. Things went from bad to worse for the away side, as a line-out move straight off the training ground sent Ben Curry over unchallenged, and Rob du Preez was on the money with the conversion again. Despite the efforts of Saracens’ attempts to find an answer and gather some momentum at the close of the first half, their threats were thwarted comfortably by the Sale defence and the score-line remained unchanged at half-time. The away side continued to hunt for their first try in the opening ten minutes of the second half, as Saracens had the majority of possession in this period, but failed to find a break through. Saracens’ persistence in their attacking pursuits eventually paid off as Segun intercepted Will Cliff’s offload and ran in to score. Whitely converted and the away side reduced the deficit to 14 points. The conceded try seemed to re-awaken Sale, with Akker van der Merwe re-establishing the Sharks’ lead, as he charged through the Sarries defence to go over. Rob du Preez added the extras. No further scores were added from either side before full-time, and Sale go on to face Harlequins in the final at the AJ Bell on March 15th as they get one step closer to a first major trophy since 2006. Post-Match Thoughts: Steve Diamond gave his post-match reaction and discussed the depth of talent in the squad, that has been so crucial to the success of the side so far this year: “Yeah pleased to get the win. I think we made hard work of it in a couple of areas, but maybe that’s what you get when you give them a week off. Saracens put a mixed squad together who are always going to fight for stuff, but we got the win” He continued: “We’ve got a lot of good players, the du Preez twins are good carriers as are the Curry twins. We’ve got a good squad, just get the cohesion there and we’ll go alright” Sale return to Premiership action this weekend as they play Saracens for the second week in a row, this time at the Allianz Park. We hope to see the Sharks’ great form continue and wish the lads the best of luck. Attendance - 7,992 Sale Sharks Starting XV: 15. Simon Hammersley, 14. Denny Solomona, 13, Sam James, 12. Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11. Marland Yarde, 10. Robert du Preez, 9. Will Cliff; 1. Coenie Oosthuizen, 2. Rob Webber, 3. Jake Cooper-Woolley, 4. Bryn Evans, 5. Jean-Luc du Preez, 6. Jono Ross (Capt.) 7. Ben Curry, 8. Daniel du Preez. Replacements: 16. Akker van der Merwe, 17. Ross Harrison, 18. Will-Griff John, 19. James Phillips, 20. Mark Wilson, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Luke James. Saracens Starting XV: 15. Matt Gallagher, 14. Ali Crossdale, 13. Duncan Taylor, 12. Dom Morris, 11. Elliot Obatoyinbo 10. Alex Goode, 9. Tom Whiteley; 1. Titi Lamositele, 2. Tom Woolostencroft, 3. Josh Ibuanokpe, 4. Callum Hunter-Hill 5. Joel Kpoku, 6. Nick Isiekwe, 7. Sean Reffell, 8. Andy Christie. Replacements 16. Kapeli Pifeleti, 17. Sam Crean, 18. Sam Wainwright, 19. Jon Kpoku, 20. Ollie Stonham, 21. Alex Day, 22. Alex Lozowksi, 23. Rotimi Segun
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Salford 24-16 Toronto Wolfpack | Game Day Highlights & Sonny Bill Williams exclusive!
The away side took the lead after a fiercely fought opening ten minutes, as Gary Wheeler made an immediate impact with his introduction to the field by getting over. Blake Wallace missed the follow up, but Toronto led 0-4. It wasn’t long before Salford levelled things, as Kevin Brown scored his first try for his new side and Tui Lolohea gave the Red Devils the lead from the tee heading into the break. A pair of tries from Lolohea and Williams extended the home side’s lead at the beginning of the second half, with Williams sprinting 70 metres to score being the highlight of the afternoon. The end to end nature of the game continued, as Gary Wheeler got his second try of the day and Brad Singleton soon followed with his first score for the Canadian outfit. Successive conversions from Blake Wallace meant that the resilient Wolfpack had levelled proceedings. This gave Salford a wakeup call at a crucial time, as Dan Sarginson and Niall Evalds both got on the scoresheet with tries in the final ten minutes, to give the home side their first win of the Super League season. Ian Watson gave his post-match reaction: "I thought it was a real good win for us. I think they’re playing with confidence obviously from the back end of last year, again they’re a team that’s reasonably settled as they know their system and know how each other play. At the moment they’ve had real dry days so it suits their style of play for an offloading team like Toronto, I think they’ll cause a lot of teams problems this season" We also caught up with cross-code mega star, Sonny Bill Williams, who gave us his exclusive thoughts on Toronto’s first two games and how he is settling at the club: “As a team, pretty disappointed we didn’t get the win today. We improved tremendously from the first week and for me there isn’t a mistake if there’s learning from it, and we definitely learnt from last week. For myself individually, last week I felt like I was playing league like a rugby player whereas this week I played league like a league player. I’m really happy with how I went”
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Jordan James on the challenges of life after Rugby and establishing his new 'CULT' business
Transitioning from sport into the world of business is no easy feat and is a topic that was the basis of our marquee sports panel event last year, which featured the likes of Ricky Hatton and Mark Cueto discussing how they adapted to leaving all they had known to pursue new ventures. This week we had the opportunity to hear another similar success story, as former Salford Red Devils and Wales international, Jordan James gave an insight into his experiences of leaving rugby league to becoming an entrepreneur at the latest Club 13 event. Since retiring from rugby league, James has gone on to open both a barbers and a coffee shop in Moston under his ‘CULT’ brand alongside his wife, Harriet. However, the path to establishing his own brand and business was filled with hardships, as Jordan explained how being away from the sport he adored was a massive struggle long before retirement: “When you’re a rugby player, being injured is the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to face, all you want to do is play. When you’re told you can’t, mentally you struggle. You start turning to drink or whatever” The 39-year-old highlighted the importance of young athletes having a plan and vision for a career after sport, as this was something that many put on the backburner until it can be sometimes too late to find that passion: “When I was 27/28 no one approached me about what I was going to do at the end of my career, at that age you’re living from contract to contract and you think you’re invincible. I think the way it’s going now with helping players is great, it should have been happening 15 years ago” He continued: “It was quite harrowing going from playing for Wigan, saying that you were going to get a contract, to having that taken away from you last minute. I stepped into a coaching role and thought it was for me but it wasn’t, I was a frustrated player and an even more frustrated coach. I wasn’t a good enough player to sit on the hundreds and thousands I’d have earnt in my playing career, I know I’m going to work until I’m 60-70” Being a barber was something that Jordan had been interested in since his playing days and a four-week barbering course in London set him a solid foundation to build his future career on. Despite the dedication and effort James has put in to achieve his goals over the years, he credits the mentors in his close family for learning from their successes and applying that in his own work: “My wife’s dad had six hairdressers in London at the height of the industry and everyone knew her dad. My mum ran pubs all her life on her own and ran three BnB’s right before she died. She saw the first shop and was mad up that I went into business, following her footsteps. Having mentors of people around us that had done that sort of thing was a great help to us” The idea of creating a family atmosphere in his CULT shops is something that Jordan believed was going to be vital to any success the company was going to have from the get-go and this has proved to be very true: “We built a whole brand of being a cult, of being a family and I can pretty much go for a beer with any of my clients. I feel like having that family ethos really gets people buying into your brand and it helps the social media side of things a lot. I put a post-up and I know that most of my clients will share it, but most of my friends won’t. It’s the clients that you build that relationship with, they’ll generally help you through your business more than your friends will” Working alongside his wife has been something that Jordan has cherished during this time and believes it brings the best out of both of them professionally: “It’s so easy working with her, I actually prefer working with her than any of the other lads because we get on so well. Now we have two shops, so we don’t work together as much because we have to split our time which isn’t the best, but business comes first” The former Salford prop gave three traits that he took from sport into business, which he believes are universally crucial for success: “For me work ethic is one. Never quitting, being a rugby player you don’t quit, whether it’s injuries or anything you don’t quit if you want to be top of your game. Resilience of when things get tough as well. Any of them you take to a job, any manager or director will see them and realise you’ve got merit and anybody would snap you up” It was brilliant hearing Jordan’s story and we look forward to seeing his CULT business continue to prosper!
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Salford Red Devis 10-12 Huddersfield Giants: Game Day Highlights
The home side started the game the livelier side in the wet and windy conditions and thought they had opened the scoring on two occasions through Ken Sio. The Australian got over twice in the opening 15 minutes, but both efforts were thwarted by Huddersfield winger, Louis Senior, who tackled Sio into touch. Huddersfield made their next opportunity count immediately, as Adam O’Brien scored the first try of the game and Aiden Sezer successfully converted. This put the away side 0-6 up. Salford soon responded in the 24th minute, as Pauli Pauli’s charging run saw the home side make good ground and a quick flurry of passes found Sio on the right-hand side, who wasn’t going to be denied this time. Lolohea missed the chance to level the scores, and the Giants narrowly led 4-6 heading into half-time. The Red Devils showcased a statement of intent in the opening minutes of the second half, as Brown found Sarginson, who dived over to put the home side ahead. Lolohea made no mistakes with conversion this time, and Salford were 10-6 ahead. The unpredictable nature of the game continued however, as Senior scored out wide for the away side to draw Huddersfield level. Sezer missed the chance to put his side ahead with his following kick steering wide. This set up an intense final few minutes, as both sides looked for a late winner. Salford’s Kevin Brown was sent to the sin bin in the last five minutes against his former side and Huddersfield exploited the home side’s disadvantage, as the Red Devils gave away numerous penalties. Sezer opted for the tee in one of these instances and won the game for the away side, kicking between the sticks to give Huddersfield a late 10-12 victory. The nature of the game’s finale was unfortunate for Salford, who have many plus points to take away from the performance heading into Saturday’s home game against Leeds. Ken Sio gave us his exclusive post-match thoughts on an eventful outing for himself: “A lot of positives to take away, there were a few errors, especially from me as well. We’re just gonna take it as a positive. We’ll let it sink in, it’s gonna hurt but we’ll come back on Monday and review it” He continued: “Every week the team looks better and better. The more we can go into a game and feel confident with each other, we’ll have a good run and hopefully go all the way” Ian Watson reinforced this belief that despite the result, Salford are definitely heading in the right direction with their performances: “I thought it was a real good arm wrestle, two teams who competed until the last minute there. I think there’s certain areas to get better at, but I think it shows our improvement from the first game against St Helens where we were way off what we want to be known as, as a group. We were massively improved against Toronto and then I would say we were better today than we were against Toronto. We’re going in the right direction, we just need to fine tune a few things”
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Sale Sharks 36-3 Leicester Tigers: Game Day Highlights
An electric performance from hat-trick hero, Marland Yarde, inspired the Sharks to an impressive win, moving them to second in the Gallagher Premiership. Match Report: Leicester opened the scoring through Reid’s penalty inside the first three minutes, as the away side began the game the livelier team. Sale were penalised again a few minutes later, but Reid missed the chance to dispatch his second of the night, with his effort hitting the post. Sale searched for the first try of the game in the following ten minutes, with the du Preez brothers’ bustling runs causing problems for the Tigers. Rob du Preez looked to have set Yarde clean through after a great break from the Sharks, but play was stopped due to obstruction in the build-up, much to the frustration of the home side. The Sharks managed to take the lead in the 30th minute, as Bryn Evans charged down Van Poortvliet’s attempted clearance from the try-line and ran in unopposed. Rob du Preez’s conversion fell just short. The combination of Rob du Preez and Yarde wasn’t going to be denied for the second time of the night, as the South African put the electric winger through to charge over and double the home side’s lead. Rob du Preez was good for the conversion this time. The home side finished the half in style, as Coenie used his power to crash over from short range and Rob du Preez added the extras again. This gave the Sharks a 19-3 lead. Rob du Preez extended Sale’s advantage with a penalty, as the Sharks looked hungry for more points on the board with 25 minutes left to play. The du Preez and Yarde duo continued to flourish as Rob sent Marland through a gap in the Tigers’ defence at short range to get his second try of the night. Rob followed up with a beauty of a curler through the posts. Yarde showed his killer instincts again as he capitalised on a sublime kick from Sam James to get over for his hat-trick, sealing off a brilliant individual performance. Rob du Preez added the extras, capping off an emphatic 36-3 victory. Post-Match Thoughts: Despite the Sale finishing off the first half with three emphatic tries, Steve Diamond believed the 30 minutes that preceded were just as important: “Well I thought it was the first 30 minutes if I’m being honest where we kept the ball and had 70% possession. They didn’t have an answer to that really and we played against the wind really well. Second half was not dissimilar, we just tied to stay from getting frustrated and work the field position and get an opportunity to score the bonus point. But again, the main thing was to get the win, that’s why they kicked the goal which was good to see, but yeah delighted with it. It’s no secret that Sale are spoilt for choice with world class wingers and Dimes reiterated this healthy competition when discussing Marland Yarde’s hat-trick: “We’ve got four good wingers: Denny, Marland, Ashy and Byron. To stay in the spot, you’ve got to score tries and I can’t see him being dropped. The Sharks travel to Gloucester on Friday and will be looking to avenge their opening day defeat and continue their title charge in the process. Sale Sharks Starting XV: 15. Simon Hammersley, 14. Chris Ashton, 13, Sam James, 12. Luke James, 11. Marland Yarde, 10. Robert du Preez, 9. Will Cliff; 1. Coenie Oosthuizen, 2. Rob Webber, 3. Jake Cooper-Woolley, 4. Bryn Evans, 5. Jean-Luc du Preez, 6. Jono Ross (Capt.) 7. Mark Wilson, 8. Daniel du Preez. Replacements: 16. Curtis Langdon, 17. Ross Harrison, 18. Will-Griff John, 19. James Phillips, 20. Ben Curry, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Denny Solomona. Leicester Tigers Starting XV: 15. Telusa Veainu, 14. Jonah Holmes, 13. Jaco Tuate, 12. Kyle Eastmond, 11. Jordan Olowofela 10. Noel Reid, 9. Jack Van Poortvliet; 1. Greg Bateman, 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3. Dan Cole (Capt), 4. Tomas Lavanini 5. Will Spencer, 6. Hanro Liebenberg, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Ifereimi Boladau. Replacements 16. Jake Kerr, 17. Nephi Leatigaga, 18. Joe Heyes, 19. Joe Batley, 20. Harry Wells, 21. Sam Lewis, 22. Harry Simmons, 23. Johnny McPhillips
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Lockdown Lowdown – Staying Active and Motivated During COVID-19, Tips from Sale Sharks' Byron McGuigan
This unprecedented period, which has seen the world remove itself from regular routine, has affected the daily lives of us all. Those whose professions depend on outdoor and public activity may find the Government’s necessary directive to ‘stay at home’, particularly daunting. Morson has an illustrious history of sporting partnerships, from supporting boxing legends Ricky Hatton, Anthony Crolla and Callum Smith to sponsoring Manchester’s rugby pride, Sale Sharks and Salford Red Devils; but we, and our sport stars, have never encountered what faces us now, a world, temporarily, without sport. Indeed, athletes across a variety of fields face a lengthy time away from competitive action and will instead, like the rest of us, make use of their surroundings at home, in order to stay focused and fit. Maintaining physical activity, when many of us are confined to our home environment, is essential for staying mentally alert, positive and motivated. Therefore, over the next few weeks our sporting stars will be giving us their hints and tips for staying active at home and revealing how they are dealing with life away from the teams and sports they love. First up we called Sale Sharks and Scotland winger, Byron McGuigan, to hear how he has adapted to such a drastic change in surroundings, from leaving the camaraderie at Carrington to individual work in self-isolation: “This has been a bit of the unknown for all of us, we only got told a week ago that we won’t be playing for a while. From this week we’re housebound and I’m spending plenty of time on the Wattbike and luckily the weather is being kind to us so I’m taking the opportunity to do weights in the back garden. In total, I’m probably able to average around two hours of training per day at the moment. Additionally, getting fresh air where I can is really important and I’m using the one opportunity for outdoor activity to walk the dog.” This time will undoubtedly be mentally challenging for many. For those individuals whose normal day to day activity would revolve around being part of an active team, self-isolation and limited interaction with family and friends will be a challenge. However, McGuigan reiterated that the health of those closest to us and reducing the strain on our public services takes priority: “No one’s too sure when the virus is going to pass and when the season’s going to kick on, but we have to remember that this is much bigger than rugby and sport. Maintaining people’s safety by following Government guidelines is the most important thing in the world at the moment” Within the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it sometimes may be difficult to get the right balance of work and family life, and Byron believes that these weeks are important for valuable family time: “I’ve been playing this game professionally for 10 years, so I’m seeing this time out as a positive. It will allow me the time to rejuvenate my body and, as long as I ensure I keep mentally strong and focussed, come back to the game better than ever. I’ve been away with Scotland and Sale over the past year, we train and play week in-week out. This next few weeks gives me special time with my family, which I haven’t had in a long time and that is great. Quality time at home and letting my body recover is massive” The prolific winger also stressed how vital it is to keep communicating with each other, even if we can’t do this face to face right now. McGuigan gave an insight into the various ways in which he has been interacting with teammates and friends in the past week: “It’s important to stay as interactive with others as possible at this time. All the lads are in a WhatsApp group, so we’re always in touch on there and I’m FaceTiming and calling my friends each day. Obviously, there’s a brilliant machine called the Playstation 4, so I’ve been catching up with AJ and a few of the other lads on Fortnite in the evenings which has been good fun and brought some laughter” Aside from working towards returning to training and playing with the Sharks in the future, Byron is also using this time to plan for his next coaching venture, as it was announced earlier this week that he’d be joining Preston Grasshoppers as their new Backs and Defence coach next year: “I’m planning for my coaching next season and making sure I’m ready to hit the ground running with that. I’m setting up some drills, some defensive principles and some attacking plays, just things like that” Byron ended the call by offering his advice to other athletes and anyone else who may be initially struggling to adapt to this change in lifestyle: “My advice to everyone would be to listen to the Governments advice, stay at home, look after yourselves and most importantly, look after each other. Respecting social distancing but staying in touch with your friends, family and community is incredibly important, not just for your mental health but for others, this, coupled with maintaining an active lifestyle and good nutrition will ensure we make the best of the unprecedented times we find ourselves in.” Stay tuned for future Lockdown Lowdown conversations with Morson athletes in the coming weeks and most importantly, keep safe. Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.
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Lockdown Lowdown: Managing fighters and family life with Kieran Farrell
In the second edition of our Lockdown Lowdown series, we spoke with former boxer and now trainer, manager and promoter Kieran Farrell to see how he has used his surroundings to continue his work - and find out what he has learnt during this time. The term workaholic is one that doesn’t get thrown around lightly, but that is exactly what Kieran is. In the past year, Farrell has hosted numerous sell-out shows across the North West; coached various fighters up and down the country; and through his management guided his brother to fight on the biggest platform in the sport – Matchroom Boxing. Taking a man away from the comfortable chaos of that lifestyle that he ultimately thrives in is understandably going to take some getting used to, and the 29-year-old discussed how much his daily routine has changed: “The main thing is making sure my kids are learning during this time above any of my work. My daughter logs onto an online workplace where she can study, whilst my son is just coming out of nursery so it’ll be his first year in reception when he goes back in. It’s a massive change of scenery for me, I’m usually out of the house training at 5:30 in the morning whereas now, I’ve thrown myself into doing more housework than anything to the point where I might run out of things to clean!” As well as training professionals, Kieran also coaches children from a variety of age groups, and has made sure that members of his classes have the appropriate regime set up to keep them active and healthy outside of the gym environment: “I sent a routine out to the kids in the gym of ten exercises and ten reps, such as burpees, sit ups, squats etc. That is what I do with the kids to finish off their sessions anyway and I’ve told every parent with children that come to my gym, to make sure they keep up with that every day, as well as their running. When they come back to the gym, they’ll be ahead of schedule and ready to go in September, when the season starts again.” As previously mentioned, 2019 was a massive year for Kieran’s brother Nathan and the work rate is still as strong as ever for the 3-0 super-lightweight with plenty of big opportunities and fights coming soon: “Nathan lives on the same street as the gym, so I’ve allowed him to go in the gym on his own whilst adhering to self-isolation and he’s following a plan that I have set up for his own time and personal space, as are the other pros.” In a time where we all need something to brighten our day, social media has shown that we can bring each other a bit of happiness with various challenges ranging from Tik Tok dances to childhood photo nominations. Kieran discussed the positive impact these challenges have had in uniting people: “I got tagged in a feel-good challenge on Instagram, where each person has to sing and nominate someone else to do the same and that did bring a smile to my face. Things like that are good in times like these to help bring people together when we can’t be around in person. A lot of the lads that took part are fighters that I manage and don’t train, so it’s nice to be able to catch up when I don’t get to see them every day anyway” Kieran closed the interview by stating that despite how career driven we may be, that the wellbeing of ourselves and our loved ones should always be our biggest priority - and hopes that this togetherness is maintained going forward: “The brain injury I suffered all those years ago made me realise how precious life is. It’s very easy to get caught up with work and think that is our biggest focus, but recent weeks have shown us that the health of our families should always be our biggest concern and that our time with our loved ones is incredibly important. I hope everyone stays safe, active and looks after their families.” Stay tuned for further updates from Morson’s sporting stars and continue to keep safe.
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Morson-sponsored Megan Nicholls on Royal Ascot, Lockdown and more
The apprentice jockey Megan Nicholls, daughter of 11 times National Hunt winning trainer Paul, surprised a few people when she made the switch from jumps to flats back in 2014. In the last few years, she’s ridden to well over 60 victories and now finds herself riding her two of her father’s horses on the flats at Royal Ascot as racing resumes following suspension during the coronavirus pandemic. A little over a year since the Queen paid Paul Nicholls' stables a visit, Royal Ascot will be without Her Majesty's presence for the first time in her 68-year reign, with the meeting this year taking place behind closed doors due to the continuing social distancing restrictions in place for all sporting events. We spoke to Megan, long time Morson-sponsored jockey following a tricky last few months and her June wins for her fathers’ stable. In the winter last year, Megan spent some time working with horses in Dubai, before returning to the UK. "It was something I'd never done before and it as a really great experience. It was good to have the chance to go somewhere else and see how they do things differently." Before long, the UK had been put into lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic. At the time, Megan was based in Thirsk, riding out locally for trainer Kevin Ryan, based just a short distance up the road that was easily accessible despite the lockdown rules. The restrictions on travel made it impractical for her to visit her father's stables in Ditcheat, Somerset. "Obviously, the horses have to be ridden during that time and looked after as normal. It was about finding a routine and finding ways to manage things well during the crisis. It was much the same at my Dad's stables as well. A lot of the horses at his stables are on their holidays at the moment because the jump season is over but he still has some horses in that are ready to run through the summer, with those riding on the flats. It's all been a bit different but luckily everyone has been sensible and adapted to the changes well and everything has run smoothly." With the resumption of the flats season in June, Megan has already ridden two winners for her father at Pontefract - Christopher Wood and Oleg. "They both ran really well and they both won, so I'm obviously delighted with that. One was having his first start on the flats for us [Christopher Wood] and the other had only had one start and we got two winners. They're both really exciting horses that will be looking towards bigger aims and better races towards the middle-end of the season." Even though the racing season has returned, all meetings will be taking place behind closed doors for the near future, which has been a strange experience for many jockeys. "We've all adapted to the changes now but obviously a lot of the atmosphere at these race courses is because of the crowd and it has been weirdly quiet but it's great to be back racing and hopefully things will keep going in the right direction and the crowds will be left back in at the right time." One of the horses Megan will be riding at Royal Ascot is Ashutor, in the 4:40 on Tuesday 16th. The six-year-old returns to the flats under a new trainer after a break of almost two years, after some mixed performances on the hurdles in 2019 punctuated by a win at Catterick Bridge under jockey Harry Cobden in February 2020. "It's his first run on the flat for us. He's shown loads of ability at home and he did well on the flats in France. He's been slightly disappointing over hurdles, however sometimes you find that some of these horses thrive back on the flat. Hopefully he can run well. It's a very competitive race like all of the races at Ascot so we're hoping for a smooth run round and fingers crossed he can run a big race." Another of Paul Nicholls’ horses that was meant to be jockeyed by Megan at Royal Ascot was Red Force One, co-owned by Morson CEO Ged Mason, Sir Alex Ferguson and the Done family. Red Force One’s most recent win came at Fakenham in October 2019, again under Harry Cobden, but was unfortunately balloted out. "Red Force One got balloted out unfortunately so he isn't running which is frustrating but he does have an entry next week." All at Morson would like to wish Megan and Paul Nicholls stables the very best during Royal Ascot and beyond. Follow @MorsonGroup on Twitter for the latest news from our Morson-sponsored sporting ambassadors and more
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