UNBIASED won his first race for Tamworth trainer Cody Morgan when he claimed Sunday’s $40,000 Hope Fuel Gunnedah Showcase Cup (1600m) – and could now line up in July’s South Grafton Cup.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Unbiased was brilliant in beating Moree gelding Rockatorio by a length and a half.
“We might keep him for the South Grafton Cup [1600m] or we might look at racing over 2000m with him,” Morgan said after the striking son of Medaglia d’Oro won his third race. “But most likely [it will be] the South Grafton Cup.”
Morgan’s parents, Mary and Glenn, bought Unbiased from Darley as a retired horse for $10,000.
They spelled him, and Morgan brought him back for a Country Championship campaign, where he ran third in the Country Championship Final to Victorem and then second to After all That in the recent Country Cup at Scone.
Ben Looker rode Unbiased on Sunday and was caught wide after jumping from barrier 14.
“I couldn’t ride him pretty,” Looker said. “I sat three deep but I had cover. He’s the kind of horse you can’t ride pretty, too.”
He said Unbiased started to feel his tough run in the last 50m.
Morgan said Unbiased had worked well leading up to the race.
“He’s been up for a long time – had a Country Champs prep,” the trainer said. “I have to thank my brother, Luke. He rode him [in] work Tuesday and I was beside him. It was the best work I’ve seen for 10 years.”
In race five, Pinot Gris returned a little “fatter” than his trainer, Les Tilley, had planned from a recent spell.
So it’s taken him a little longer to get him back up to “10 furlongs”, the Wyong trainer said after his seven-year-old gelding eased away to a two-and-a-quarter-length win in the $30,000 XXXX Gold Benchmark 55 Showcase Akwazoff Handicap (2050m).
Named in honour of the Tamworth country Cups king, Akwazoff, who also won three successive Gunnedah Cups, the race was a nice result for Tilley, who is also one of the owners of Pinot Girls in a syndicate of Wyong, Lithgow, Dungog and Sydney owners.
Robert Thompson rode Pinot Gris, and told Tilley and other co-owners of the horse that “the old fella was on song today”.
“Travelled well all the way,” he said.
Tilley said: “He won over 10 furlongs at Port [Macquarie] for us, then we took him to Kembla [Grange] and he disappointed. We’ll look around for a similar class over 10 furlongs for him.”