FFOS LAS: ‘I’ve never been on a horse in my life!’: award-winning apprentice Morgan, 19, eyes a future in racing

Race days at Ffos Las often find Morgan Hughes at the start, close enough to the jockeys to see exactly what they do. He has no plans to join them.

The 19-year-old groundstaff apprentice admits as much: “I’ve never been on a horse in my life! I haven’t got the guts!”

What he does have is an industry award. Morgan, who joined the groundstaff team full-time last year, has won the Richard Lindley Award at the 2026 Racecourse Groundstaff Awards.

The award goes to groundstaff who have joined the industry in the past two years and shown real development, determination and commitment to learning. The judges were won over by his enthusiasm, reliability and willingness to learn.

He had no idea he had even been nominated until clerk of the course Tracey O’Meara broke the news to the team.

Morgan said: “I didn’t even know Tracey had put my name in, to be honest! She came in and said, ‘Oh, we’ve got good news.’ First of all, we’ve been named runners-up for the most improved track of the year, which was a really good achievement.”

He admits he didn’t realise what the personal award meant until he looked it up. “I did a bit of research and realised what it was, and I thought, ‘Oh, wow, it’s a big achievement,’” he said.

Hearing what his boss had written about him meant a lot too. “Tracey told me what she’d written, and I was really pleased to hear that she thought of me that way,” he said.

Burry Port scrum-half found racing through rugby

His way in came through rugby. While he was still at school, a teammate at Burry Port RFC told him Ffos Las needed casual fence attendants.

Another rugby connection, Josh Perry, then pointed him towards an apprenticeship on the groundstaff team, and he applied while he was on holiday.

The Burry Port scrum-half had watched the big meetings on TV, from Cheltenham to Aintree, but had never followed racing closely. Working behind the scenes changed that.

“I think it was just getting to know people,” he said. “I’m quite a sociable person and I like to talk. Everyone was nice and accommodating, and I just enjoyed working and being out there watching the racing.”

Known to most at the racecourse as “Mogs”, he was also one of four from Ffos Las who jumped out of a plane over Swansea for Tŷ Hafan in August.

Picking up Billy Loughnane from Pembrey Airport

On race days he works either the crossing gates for the horses or the start, and the job has brought him face to face with riders he used to watch on TV.

He has collected rising star Billy Loughnane from Pembrey Airport, and five-time champion jockey Oisin Murphy was among those who messaged to congratulate him on the award.

“It’s kind of a surreal experience sometimes,” he said. “I’ve seen these people on TV and now I’m picking them up from an airport.”

Next stop Chepstow’s Welsh Racing Festival

Away from race days, he studies for a Level Two Sports Turf qualification at Bridgend College once a week. He also walks the course with O’Meara, learning how she judges the ground and takes soil moisture readings.

He has worked at Chepstow too, and is due back for the three-day Welsh Racing Festival, which starts on Friday.

He hasn’t settled on where it all leads. “I just go with the flow,” he said. “If the opportunity arises and I have the right qualifications, I’d 100 per cent go for it. I’d say I’m pretty ambitious and I’d like to step up sometime.”

Looking back on the past 12 months, he said: “It’s been a very hectic year, I guess, but I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.”