Cody Morgan always thought The First Of May was of Highway Handicap standard and the Tamworth trainer was proved right on Saturday on his way to a metropolitan double.
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Under the guidance of Tommy Berry, The First Of May scored a dominant front-running win in the TAB Highway Handicap (1100m) at Randwick.
The First Of May led the whole way with nearest rival Katgully Red finished 2.4 lengths back in second.
Before landing at Morgan's stables, the four-year-old mare was with Mornington-based trainer Joseph Waldron.
With Waldron, The First Of May had finished two lengths off the winner in a $135,000 benchmark 70 race at Flemington.
That performance gave Morgan confidence in the mare's potential.
"The writing was on the wall. She wasn't that far off that [Highway Handicap] level," he said.
Before Saturday, The First Of May last raced, and won, last year on December 1 in Armidale.
The length between runs was forced by the weather with Morgan saying The First Of May prefers a good track.
"There's been a lot of rain and this was one of the first times we had her on really good ground," Morgan said.
"She was scratched a couple times and we waited for the most suitable race and it happened to be a highway."
Morgan's other win - and only other runner - on Saturday came north of the border where Ligulate ground out a contrasting win to that of his stablemate.
Following a slow start in the Hellbent First Crop at Inglis Classic Open Handicap (1600m) at Doomben, the five-year-old rounded up his rivals before fighting off Prometheus to win by 0.2 lengths.
It was Ligulate's second win during the gelding's four-race Queensland stint which also included a second at the Sunshine Coast and an eighth in The Buffering at Eagle Farm.
Ligulate is now back in Tamworth and Morgan has plans set out for both his winning horses from the weekend.
The First Of May will head back to Sydney for a crack at another highway in the next two or three weeks while Ligulate will be given the chance to defend his Tamworth Cup crown.
The Tamworth Cup will be run on April 23 and will see Morgan chase his third win in a row after Ligulate won in 2020 and Unbiased won in 2019.
In the immediate future, Morgan will have Cosmic Bullet, Imsouane and Brave Enough go around at Armidale on Monday.