Michael ‘Mouse’ Morris has been a prominent figure in Irish National Hunt racing for well over 30 years. Like many future trainers, he first came to prominence as a jockey and he was an amateur rider of significant talent.

In 1974 he helped Edward O’Grady claim his first Cheltenham Festival winner when riding Mr Midland to victory in the National Hunt Chase. But perhaps the highlights of his career in the saddle came when he rode the durable Skymas to back-to-back victories in the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 1976 and 1977.

Having taken out a training licence in the early 1980s, Morris was very fortunate to get his all important breakthrough horse at an early stage of his training career in the shape of Buck House. He gave Morris his first winner at the Cheltenham Festival when prevailing in the 1983 Supreme Novice Hurdle but it wasn’t until he went over fences that he truly realised his potential. He gained his most famous success in the 1986 Queen Mother Champion Chase under Thomas Carmody. A month after that win, a match race was arranged between him and the Cheltenham Gold Cup winning mare, Dawn Run, at Punchestown and he did exceptionally well to finish within two lengths of that hugely talented mare. However, that would tragically be the last time Buck House would be seen on the racetrack as he succumbed to a bout of colic a month later.
 
The entrance into the 1990s saw even more success come the way of the Mouse Morris yard and Trapper John got the decade off to the perfect start when winning the Stayers Hurdle at the 1990 Cheltenham Festival under Charlie Swan.

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