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By Greg Prichard

Ashley Morgan’s bid to win the NSW Jockeys’ Premiership is set to get a boost when he takes a quality book of rides at the Taree race meeting on Monday.

Unless he picks up any other rides late, Morgan will only ride in four of the eight races on the card, but he’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t get among the winners with them.

Morgan will kick off with King Soleil, trained by Craig Ruttley at Taree, in race one, the Coopernook Pub Country Boosted Maiden Handicap over 1007 metres.

Jockey Ashley Morgan (Pic: Bradley Photos).

King Soleil will be racing first-up and was pushing hard to break through towards the end of his previous campaign, which finished with seconds in maiden events at Port Macquarie and Taree.

If Ruttley has the three-year-old gelding ready to be competitive first-up then he’s certainly capable of being in the finish of this race.

Morgan’s next ride, in race two, will be on the Paul Perry-trained Yorikiri in the RTS Earthmoving Benchmark 66 Handicap over 2018 metres.

The six-year-old gelding is in the best form of his career, having scored at each of his last two starts at Port Macquarie.

Those successes came in Benchmark 66 and 58 races over distances of 1800 and 1812 metres and the astute Perry, who is based at Newcastle, obviously believes another 200 metres in distance won’t be a problem.

Next up for Morgan will be Yamba’s Girl, another trained at Newcastle but this time by Jason Deamer, in race five, the Greenrocks Graphics Benchmark 58 Handicap over 1614 metres.

The four-year-old mare came desperately close to winning at her most recent start, in a Benchmark 50 race over 1600 metres at Tuncurry, and Deamer is an expert at placing his horses in races they can win.

Morgan’s day closes out in race seven, the Cross Family Como Dairy Hannam Vale Cup - Benchmark 82 Handicap over 1007 metres, in which he will ride In Spades for Muswellbrook trainer Justin Bowen.

In Spades was a last-start winner in a Benchmark 66 race over 1007 metres at Taree.

It’s a step up in class for the six-year-old mare, but she is drawn beautifully in barrier two and can get going quickly enough to race prominently from there.

Morgan spreads himself around the country and provincial tracks and has been breaking through in Sydney recently as well.

Following Friday afternoon’s racing he was in second place on the NSW Jockeys’ Premiership with 73 wins. Jean Van Overmeire led on 75.

Morgan is putting in the hard work in his bid to continue rising through the ranks.

“I’m keeping really busy riding work, doing trials and I’m getting a lot of support from big stables,” he said.

“I’m lucky enough to be riding some winners in Sydney on Saturdays and I’ve had a few stakes winners.

“It’s going well, but of course you have to keep it going.”

*First race 1.15pm. Gates open midday. Full TAB and bookmaker facilities. The Turf Bistro and bar inside the Winning Post Function Centre open. General admission $10 and concession $5. See Manning Valley Race Club Facebook page for more details.

All the fields, form and replays for Tuesday's Taree meeting