'I thought, 'What the hell am I doing?' I was burning myself alive to lose weight and it wasn't even working’
Champion conditional Luca Morgan talks Sam Hendry through his shock decision to quit the saddle
As Luca Morgan walks into a cosy owners’ room at Ben Pauling’s yard in Naunton, he picks up a slice of a chocolate traybake from the side.
A pretty unremarkable moment, you might think. For most of us, including your writer, perhaps to his detriment, indulging in some chocolate is a perfectly normal occurrence. But for Morgan this marks an abrupt departure from the exceptionally harsh regimes he forced his body through over the last few years as he desperately clung to his childhood dream of being a jockey.
“The novelty of eating does wear off quite quickly, it’s not as good as you think,” quips Morgan, who became Britain's champion conditional jockey in April only to stun the sport when he announced his immediate retirement last month aged 22.
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- It's been a quarter of a century since we started - here's how we've seen the sport we love change
- 'You can see why people end up struggling - when you're trying to pay the electric bill, losing one ride can be massive'
- 'I've never paid six figures for a horse and never will - I learned pretty quickly you're only one phone call away from f*** all'
- 'I’ve trained some fabulous horses, worked with some excellent riders - maybe I have brought a little bit of talent to the table as well'
- ‘When you’re in the moment and you’re starved, you’re ready to explode - everything built up and I just lost my s**t’