With hard work and determination, Andy Morgan has won this year’s Spring Super Stakes Junior Division. Morgan is the first person from Clarke County to win the super stakes.
Andy Morgan was the handler of Carl Wade’s dog, Late Night Making Racket. Racket is from a long line of dogs bred by Jason Miller, and Andy has frequently used the dogs bred by Jason in the past.
“Jason has been breeding this line for a long time, though I am not exactly sure how long it has been. I know that I started hunting this line in 2002,” stated Andy. “On Racket’s momma’s side, I have hunted almost all the dogs in it. His granddaddy, Late Night Hero, finished second in the one year old Super Stakes several years ago. He was out of Late Night Boone, and I owned him. I also hunted Little Keeper her whole life. You can say that I have been hunting this line for a while.”
Andy doesn’t own Racket, but it is thanks to Andy that Carl Wade decided to purchase Racket.
“Jason Miller and I went in half on Racket when he was about a year old. I hunted him four months or longer and then sold him to David Jenkins here in Stonewall, MS,” said Andy. “David ended up calling me to see if I wanted to buy him back because he was going out of town for work. I called Mr. Carl about him and talked him into buying him. I am thankful that Mr. Carl believed in me enough to buy him.”
Since Carl purchased Racket and allowed Andy to handle him, Racket has won multiple hunts leading up to the Super Stakes. He won some local hunts, placed in a Legacy hunt, and finished second at the Pro Classic in Butler, Alabama. After placing second, they decided to focus on training Late Night Making Racket to prepare him for the Super Stakes.
One of the most important people in training Racket was Andy’s seven year old son, Preston. Preston made sure to go out with his dad every night so that his dad would not be hunting alone. He was his dad’s biggest fan and supporter.
All the hard work paid off. Racket scored well enough on Wednesday, his first night in the event, that he was able to be in the quarter finals on Friday. That first cast was very eventful for Andy and Racket.
“Racket got off to himself and treed a kitten coon. It had gotten hairy where he treed. We walked the minute and cut back loose. We went to Angel’s tree, and she had a coon. Nothing was struck in at that time,” remembered Andy. “Then Racket opened up again, and I struck and treed him. We came out in a pasture and the guide or judge told me that Racket was treed in someone’s front yard. You could hear people screaming, and all of sudden Racket came squalling down the road. We called interference at that time. The judge had his dog treed in, and we still had to go score it. She did not have a coon, and I won. I caught a break on that cast because we could hear all that went on with his tree.”
The second cast went flawlessly and allowed Andy and Late Night Making Racket to continue to the quarter finals on Friday night.
The first cast on Friday night went well, and Racket went on to the second cast. Andy was able to call Preston at the end of the second cast and let him know that they would be going out again Saturday night.
Andy was nervous going in to the final round, but after a good run, Late Night Making Racket came out on top and won the Super Stakes in the Junior Division.
“That was the longest minute of my life!” exclaimed Andy when talking about the last round.
Overall, he was very proud of Racket and how everything went.
“Every cast that I was on was a good one,” explained Andy. “Everyone was sportsmen, and they let the dogs do the talking. I did not have one problem. In every year that I have been there, I have never been on a bad cast.”
Andy does not take all the credit for his win and is very grateful to everyone involved who made the win possible for him.
“I want to give Jason Miller all the credit he deserves for breeding this line. He was also the one who raised Racket up to a year old when I got him the first time,” stated Andy. “I want to thank Mr. Carl Wade because without him I would not have made it to the Super Stakes this year. He put his faith in me and bought Racket on my suggestion. I appreciate him trusting my judgment. I also definitely have to thank my son Preston for what he put into getting Racket ready. Preston hunted every step with me and was right there with me every night. It did not matter if we got home and 10 o’clock or 3 o’clock, he was ready to go the next night.”
Andy plans to continue to hunt Racket and expressed plans with Carl Wade to breed him as well.
There was a lot of effort involved by multiple people to make the win possible. Congratulations Andy Morgan on winning the Spring Super Stakes in the Junior Division!
