Morson Group and Paul Nicholls’ Race to Success
With over 20 years of friendship and an abundance of winning horses and trophies shared, Champion National Hunt Trainer Paul Nicholls and Morson CEO Ged Mason have a storied history steeped in success.
With ITV’s recent Champions: Full Gallop documentary giving an insight into Paul’s day-to-day life as a trainer and the inevitable ups and downs of the world of horse racing, we spoke with him to get an insight into how it all began for him. We also discussed the origins of his friendship with Ged Mason that led them to take the racing world by storm.
Do you remember your earliest memories of getting interested in Horse Racing when you were younger?
“My Dad and my Grandad were in the police force, nothing to do with horses at all. I remember on a Saturday afternoon, I used to go when I was young and watch the ITV7 on a Saturday with my Grandad, who was hooked on racing and he was a friend of, Geoff Scudamore, who was Peter Scudamore’s grandfather. And I think I got hooked on the sport through Grandad.
My Dad bought me a pony, I became a jockey and the rest is history. I rode many winners and I was very lucky, but I was always fascinated with training and always wanted to train. I’ve loved every minute from the moment I started as a trainer. You have ups and downs, but you make the good days count and I’ve been very, very lucky to have some fantastic days and some fantastic horses.”
Do you remember your first big win?
“My first Grade One winner when it was a horse was called See More Indians, which belonged to the late Paul Barber. I was a great friend of Paul’s and we won a Grade 1 at Kempton on Boxing Day and won the Novices’ Chase at the King George all those years ago. That was the first real big winner.
Then in 1999, I’d been training for about eight years and I’d never had a Cheltenham winner. I remember that week where I had three winners, that whole week was the best of my career because everything took off after that. On the Tuesday at Cheltenham, a horse called Flagship Uberalles won the Arkle Novice Chase, on the Wednesday, Call Equiname won the Queen Mother Champion Chase, then on the third and final day See More Business won the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Three winners like that in a week, having never had a Cheltenham winner was just unbelievable, that was probably my biggest-ever win. My whole career kicked off from there. I’m extremely lucky and I owe those three horses probably everything. In my sitting room, I’ve got a fantastic picture of those three horses and I always look at it and think I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for those three horses.”
Tell us about the first time you met Ged and how you connected over your love of horse racing?
“Well, I think it goes back a long way to a horse called Sporazene, and I think it was a friend, of Ged’s at the time, David Jackson, who had horses and through David, I met Ged. They then had a horse in partnership and Ged ended up with Sporazene, which was the first horse he owned with us, who was his first festival winner.”
“Sporazene won at Punchestown, then won at County Hurdle at Cheltenham and I think Ged was hooked from that point. From the day I met Ged, he’s been a generous man and he’s a gentleman. He takes losing as well as he takes winning. A good man can win and an even better man can lose.”
“Ged knows the game and we’ve become closer and closer over the years and have had better and better horses and had some amazing success. He’s a fantastic man to have on your team and I’m very proud to have the friendship I have with him”
“His enthusiasm from every winner is infectious and he’s obviously really enjoyed the game and over the years he got more of his friends involved and shared that passion with them. I think Ged enjoys winning to share it with his friends, and his family as much as any, it’s not a personal thing.”
“He loves sharing his success and he just loves the game, we’re very lucky to have him as an owner and a sponsor of the yard. I feel privileged to have met him and call him one of my very best pals.”
What are some of your favourite wins alongside Ged and Morson over the years?
“What A Friend was one of the best winners we ever had, he came from being an average horse to being a top horse. Lexus Chase in Leopardstown, he won two Martell Cups at Aintree. They were fantastic wins. Hermes Alan won a Grade 1 Challow Hurdle the season before last. Sadly, we lost Hermes, but he was a fantastic horse and he was destined to do very bright things”
“Sporazine when he won at Punchestown and at Cheltenham. Clan Des Obeaux is probably the best of them all, he won two King Georges. Monmiral winning a grade one at Aintree. Hitman, another fantastic horse. You can just go on and on and now he’s got some really super horses as well to run this season with his friends, Sir Alex Ferguson, John Hales, and Peter Done. I’d say he’s going to have a very strong team along with his pals.”
Is there a particular year or season where you had to overcome a difficult spell and it ended very well at the end of the year?
“Like in any sport you have good days and bad days. We’ve probably had some bad days with Clan Des Obeaux. He got beat at Newbury, ironically by one of my horses - a horse called Secret Investor, who was a good horse on his day. Clan had come back from a little bit of time off and I remember saying to Ged after we got beat the next day, I said don’t worry, he’ll win at Aintree next time.
He wasn’t really 100% fit, he had a few problems and of course, April came along and we won the big one at Aintree! So, it just shows you, they’re not machines, they don’t always win and in this game, as in any sport you do have ups and downs. You’ve just got to keep your head down and just keep moving forward. Don’t change things. It always comes right.”
What else is there left for you to achieve?
“To keep winning, really. I’m not far off 4000 winners in Great Britain. I don’t think anyone has done that before. I think we need another couple of hundred to get near that. Martin Pipe won 15 championship trainers, I’ve been champion trainer 14 times. It’d be nice to equal or possibly beat him. But we’re going to be up against a bit stiff opposition with Dan Skelton.
We’ve just got to keep on winning. I think the highlight for me, if I could, would be to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Ged, because winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup is the pinnacle. We’ve had horses run in the race before, but to win a Gold Cup one day for Ged would be top of my list.”
It’s been tremendous to see the continued success Paul Nicholls’ stable has achieved over the years and we are very proud to be a part of this incredible journey as sponsors.
About Morson Group
Morson Group is a diverse and global collection of businesses, who over a 50-year history, have built on our reputation as a recruitment agency to offer engineering, consultancy, training, recruitment technology and screening services across the UK, US, Canada and Australia.
We have a community of expert recruiters, matching talented candidates with purposeful organisations and game changing projects across the STEM landscape. This isn’t ‘bums on seats’, transactional recruitment. We support corporate strategies through impactful hiring and workforce solutions. We nurture careers, from first hire to retire and everything in between. We invest, paving the way for the next generation of STEM talent.
Sports and sponsorships have been an enduring part of our brand strategy borne from an ambition to attract skilled, hard-working individuals to build high performing teams, whether in the horse racing world, on the rugby pitch, in the ring or in the world of work.
Our sports stars showcase the behaviours which we champion; teamwork, dedication and the ability to overcome challenges. Our work in the world of sport goes beyond sponsorship, enabling us to inspire our clients, candidates and colleagues and give back to the communities in which we work.
We are involved with a range of sports from Horse Racing to Boxing and MMA, Rugby Union, Rugby League and Golf.
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