Central Coast miler High Court showed he can handle a shorter distance after claiming the $30,000 Tamworth Golden Guitar Cup (1200m) on Thursday.
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Ridden by Grant Buckley, the Jeff Englebrecht-trained five-year-old gelding held off a fast-finishing Morpheus (Adrian Layt) to win the feature race of the Showcase meeting and claim the $15,100 first prize. It was his fifth win in 18 starts.
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In the next race, the final of the day, Englebrecht and Buckley successfully combined again when the The Neon Knight beat the Luke Morgan-trained Depth That Varies (Dylan Gibbons) in a class three handicap over 1000m.
A crowd of several hundred people descended on the track, beneath a baby blue sky, for the long-awaited return of racing to the city, after two Tamworth meetings were cancelled in December due to track safety concerns.
The Showcase program was the start of a bumper few months of racing at Tamworth, with Ladies Day on January 30 followed by the Country Championships qualifier and the Tamworth Cup.
Tamworth Jockey Club administrator David Jewell was "very happy" with the day.
There was "a reasonably good" crowd, he said, "but more importantly the racing's been terrific".
"The reports on the track from the jockeys is excellent ... Everyone commented that the place looks terrific," he said.
Melanie O'Gorman flew the flag for Tamworth trainers when three-year-old filly Miss Parmigiana (Ashley Morgan) won race two, a maiden plate over 1200m.
Scone's Cameron Crockett also had two wins on the day: Brother Bassy (Jake Pracey-Holmes) claimed race four, a benchmark 66 handicap (1600m). And then Pure Fuego (Mitchell Bell) won race five, a class one handicap (1200m).
