Horse Racing

Bert Morgan (1904-1986) was born in 1904 in Lancashire, England, and was raised just down the road from Aintree Racecourse, site of the Grand National. At age seven, he and his family moved to Brooklyn. At fifteen he began syndicating photographs, and soon his own work as a candid freelance photographer of high society, with his rare access to the elite and unfailing eye for the candid moment, was appearing in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Town & Country, Women's Wear Daily, and other periodicals. Bert's society photographs at race courses led to an interest in the races themselves, and he went on to take photographs of Triple Crown races for the next 35 years, pioneering unusual and thrilling new techniques. In 1940, Bert was appointed the New York Racing Association's official track photographer. His work earned him the first-ever George B. Featherston photojournalism award for excellence in equine photography by the Thoroughbred Record.