Sam Morshead is the first leading professional jockey to have become an acclaimed racecourse manager. Now, with an engaging, unsophisticated charm he paints a wonderful carefree picture of a world that has gone but a spirit which should never die.
Sam was born and brought up in Ireland to Cornish parents and began riding before school age, his talent was evident. Just 17 when riding over fences for the first time, he was hooked. Soon, a bold move to England brought him his defining role as first jockey to fabled trainer Fred Rimell and over 400 winners. In the same cavalier way in which he rode, he covers this most iconic period of National Hunt racing.
Concussion, caused by a series of head injuries, ended his riding days but he soon reinvented himself in Scotland as a ground breaking racecourse manager at Perth and when cancer forced him to step down last summer, he was swamped with tributes. Despite that ongoing battle, the tribulations of marriage and partner loss Sam Morshead has kept smiling. Anxious to tell his story and equipped with a wealth of knowledge and innate passion built up over almost 40 years in horse racing, Racing Through Life provides a colourful, sometimes poignant, glimpse into a life well lived.
Sam was born and brought up in Ireland to Cornish parents and began riding before school age, his talent was evident. Just 17 when riding over fences for the first time, he was hooked. Soon, a bold move to England brought him his defining role as first jockey to fabled trainer Fred Rimell and over 400 winners. In the same cavalier way in which he rode, he covers this most iconic period of National Hunt racing.
Concussion, caused by a series of head injuries, ended his riding days but he soon reinvented himself in Scotland as a ground breaking racecourse manager at Perth and when cancer forced him to step down last summer, he was swamped with tributes. Despite that ongoing battle, the tribulations of marriage and partner loss Sam Morshead has kept smiling. Anxious to tell his story and equipped with a wealth of knowledge and innate passion built up over almost 40 years in horse racing, Racing Through Life provides a colourful, sometimes poignant, glimpse into a life well lived.
