Morley turns out turf horses
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tom Morley, who has started the meet with five wins from 14 starters, is expecting things to cool down this winter.
That’s due in part to Morley deciding to forgo sending a division to Fair Grounds as he typically does in winter and turning out most, if not all, of his turf horses for the season. Morley said he could see up to half of his 50-horse stable getting winter breaks, with the idea that those turf-oriented horses will be running over Belmont Park’s new synthetic surface in the winter of 2027.
“For someone who trains a lot of New York-breds and a lot of turf horses, the synthetic is going to help me,” Morley said. “I can give my grass horses this winter off because if they’re sound, healthy, and running well, they won’t be getting next winter off.”
When Metatron won Sunday’s second race, a maiden $30,000 claiming race on dirt, it was Morley’s fifth win from 14 starters from Nov. 7-16. That streak began with Attfield winning the Central Park Stakes for 2-year-olds on turf. Initially, Morley said he was thinking of running Attfield on dirt for his next start, but now that could be on hold. Attfield is going to get a three-week freshening, and then Morley and his owners will decide whether to try dirt, a synthetic race at Turfway Park, or wait for the 2026 turf season.
“We don’t want to [mess up] a potentially extremely good grass horse trying to get him to go 10 furlongs on dirt in May,” Morley said.
On Friday, Cerro Rico won a six-furlong maiden race on turf that came four months after he finished last in a dirt race at Saratoga. Morley said he’s not convinced Cerro Rico, a son of Yaupon, is a turf horse.
“Saratoga was a disaster. It was a less-than-stellar ride and mentally set the horse back enormously,” Morley said. “It’s taken a long time to get him back understanding what we need him to do. I had no idea how he’d handle the turf. He doesn’t look like a turf horse, he’s not particularly bred to be a turf horse, but I did think it would be an opportunity to get a little bit of an easier race into him.
“He is still a long way from being totally rebuilt, in my opinion. Even Johnny [Velazquez] said this will have done him a lot of good because he was very anxious about the whole thing, but he settled well in the race, traveled smoothly, picked up at the end, and did it nicely.”
Morley believes Cerro Rico has a lot of ability and that he hopes the turf was “a building block” for future success.
“Delighted he won, but I’m hoping he can run on the dirt as well,” Morley said.
On Nov. 13, Morley sent out A Bourbon for Toby to a 3 3/4-length victory in his 11th start, and the horse earned a solid 86 Beyer Speed Figure. A Bourbon for Toby is named in honor Toby Sheets, the longtime Steve Asmussen assistant trainer who died in 2024 and was a close friend of Morley and his wife, Maggie. For that reason, A Bourbon for Toby is “a barn favorite” and Morley is looking forward to seeing what the horse can do in 2026. He was to be sent out for a winter break beginning Monday.
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