Tamworth trainer Cody Morgan enjoyed a back-to-back home track double at Tuesday's Members Race Day but it wasn't without a few nervous moments.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Half Hinch and Holy Command both snuck home by the barest of margins.
"Sometimes you just need luck," Morgan commented to Thoroughbred Central after Holy Command just bobbed at the right time to beat Lord Tony in the Tamworth Jockey Club Members Benchmark 66 Handicap (1000m).
READ ALSO:
The previous race, Half Hinch had held off the challengers, which included stable-mate C'Mon And Love Me, for a neck win over Craig Martin's Ishim on the inside.
C'Mon And Love Me was another length back third after flashing home on the outside from a good few lengths back heading into the straight.
"It was a good tough win," Morgan said.
Having just her fourth start, after leading for the majority of the race, the filly, who he quipped is "not easy by any means" and described as "pretty feral", had to fight hard to notch her first win.
Morgan had trialled her at Scone last week.
"She can get really hot and I just said to the owners that we'll take her for a trip down to Scone; just try and take the edge off her and it seemed to work," he said, adding that they'll look to keep her around that 1200m mark.
He was also quick to make mention of jockey Casey Waddell, who he commented has "really improved" since she came up to Tamworth.
Back from an eight-week freshen up he thought C'mon And Love Me "was terrific".
Holy Command then battled with Lord Tony down the straight after swinging around the turn about four wide, to break through for his first win for Morgan since he took over the training duties from his father Glenn.
"In hindsight the win was probably better than it looks, the second horse had the drop on him but he toughed it out with 60-and-a-half (kg)," he told Thoroughbred Central.
He said the gelding "didn't have an easy run in transit" and, felt he knocked up a bit after "a good blow in that trial the other day".
The six-year old has been only pretty lightly-raced with Tuesday his fifth start since last July but has "always shown good ability" and was a $2.20 favourite.
Jockey Aaron Bullock said he just had to bide his time and keep the gelding balanced.
"He got caught a bit wide but it's only one corner here and he let down really good and got the bob in," he said.
It gave him a double for the meeting after piloting Zakor to the win in the opening race.
"I wasn't expecting it but Cody did tell me the horse would go good and to his credit he did that," Bullock, who went on to finish with a treble, said of Holy Command.
The two feature races were the Tamworth Cup and Mornington Showcase Preludes.
The Paul Messara-trained Total Recall took out the Cup prelude to gain automatic entry into the field for the $200,000 race on April 23, while Greg Preston's Reposition won the Mornington prelude.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News