Trainer Morey, fresh off biggest win, seeks best payday

ARCADIA, Calif. – When Coniah won the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday, the occasion marked career win No. 1,568 for trainer William E. Morey. More importantly, Morey finally had his first graded stakes win, a victory that brought a sense of relief.

“We can put that to rest,” Morey reflected in his stable office last Sunday.

Coniah won the Las Cienegas 17 years and a day after Morey’s first career win, with Gypsy Road at Golden Gate Fields in 2001. The 43-year-old Morey may be on the verge of another milestone. On Saturday, Morey can win the richest race of his career when Rye starts in the $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic for California-breds at Santa Anita.

Morey is banking on Rye’s past form at Santa Anita. Last February, Rye won the Super Bowl Starter Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita, closing from last of 11 to win by 2 3/4 lengths. More recently, Rye won an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option at Golden Gate Fields in October before finishing seventh in the Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap on the all-weather surface there in November.

“If you go off his turf form, and his turf form at Santa Anita at a mile and an eighth, we’ve got some pluses, for sure,” Morey said.

“You don’t get a chance to run [an older] Cal-bred for $200,000 but once a year, and maybe once a career. You have to take a shot.”

Morey is not too concerned about the loss in the Berkeley Handicap, saying the race was a risk worth taking with Rye.

“He’s more of a turf horse, and we took a shot,” he said.

Rye was claimed for $20,000 from a win in a maiden race at Golden Gate Fields in February 2016. A winner of 7 of 15 starts and $197,199, Rye is owned by Joseph Morey, who is not related to the trainer.

William Morey said his late father, William J. Morey, a popular trainer in California, met Joseph Morey in the 1970s because of their last names. The Morey families are close, he said.

“My dad trained for him for 40 years,” Morey said. “You’re a Morey, and I’m a Morey, and that’s how they met. Half the time, I consider him my uncle.”

Morey has stables on both circuits in California, with 15 horses at Santa Anita and 25 at Golden Gate Fields. He splits his time each week between the two venues, flying or driving approximately 385 miles each way, depending on commitments.

At Golden Gate Fields, Morey thought he had his first graded stakes win when Positive Response finished first in the Berkeley Handicap in 2012 only to be disqualified and placed fourth for causing interference.

“That was a stinger,” he said. “All DQ’s sting, but that one stung for years.”

Morey has had occasional runners in Southern California through the years and moved a division here in spring 2016. He is having an outstanding start to the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, with six wins from 11 starters.

Coniah, a 5-year-old mare who races for owners and breeders James and Tammy McKenney, has won 4 of 20 starts and earned $295,365. The Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes at six furlongs for fillies and mares Feb. 18 might be her next start.

Aside from the win in the Las Cienegas, Coniah has run well on both surfaces in the last year. She was second in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes on the hillside turf course last May before finishing second in the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Stakes on dirt last June in her final start of 2017.

“She loved the downhill, but she likes the dirt,” Morey said. “I think we’ll keep her sprinting.”