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By Ray Hickson

Ezekeil has been installed favourite to win the Newhaven Park Country Championships Final but his trainer Cody Morgan says he has some boxes to tick if he’s to confirm that standing at Tamworth on Sunday.

Cody Morgan (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Morgan is in line for his fourth win in the $150,000 Hunter & North West Country Championships (1400m) in the past five years if one of his four runners is successful.

The four-year-old is the $7 elect to win the $500,000 feature at Royal Randwick despite being unproven at the distance and that’s one of Morgan’s chief concerns – but he says he’s had the right platform to prove himself a worthy favourite.

“I don’t think we’ve seen who should be favourite yet, maybe that will come out on the weekend,’’ Morgan said.

“Of the heats so far I think they’re all pretty even. I don’t know if we’ve seen a Noble Boy or a Clearly Innocent yet.

“Ezekeil has a great record but I’m a bit hesitant that he should be a clear favourite. He’s just got a few negatives and that’s a distance query and 59kg but the draw will help and his trackwork has been great.”

A year ago Ezekeil ran second last as a $7 chance in this race and failed to beat one home in the Wild Card at Scone, his only two attempts at 1400m.

Morgan said the gelding is a different horse now, a stronger one, and is coming off a couple of career best performances to win at Armidale over 1100m and the Country Cup (1200m) on Magic Millions Day at the Gold Coast by clear margins.

“I’ve had an opportunity to work him out, he enjoys his races being spaced and ever since we’ve done that he’s been effective,’’ he said.

“This will give us a good guide going forward, he’s as well as he can be so if he doesn’t run it out strongly we won’t experiment with it again.

“I know he was dominant at the Gold Coast but he’s going from 54kg at 1200m to 59kg at 1400m. I’ve always felt that he was a false favourite but I hope I’m wrong and they’re right.”

The Tamworth trainer won his first regional Country Championships back in 2019 with Unbiased - Pelerin won a Wild Card in 2017 for Morgan - and he said he’s used that horse as a blueprint for Acrophobic’s preparation.

The five-year-old has won one race since joining Morgan towards the end of 2021 and he said that win was the only other time he hasn’t worn equicast on his feet.

“I’ve given him a very similar preparation to Unbiased,’’ Morgan said.

Ezekeil wins at the Gold Coast on January 14

“He’s been off a while but he’s had four trials, I’ve left the blinkers off in those trials and they go on.

“I’ve had feet issues with the horse and I’ve given him one start where he hasn’t worn equicast on his feet and he won at the track and distance and he won’t have it on this weekend.”

Cody Morgan on Seguso: “The draw is against him but the 1400m won’t be a concern. He’s going to need a lot of luck.”

On Casino Lord: “He’s the smokey in the race. The sectionals he ran at Quirindi were phenomenal and he will run very well. He’s come through that run well and if he gets luck from the back of the field he’ll be flooding home.”

All the fields, form and replays for Sunday's Country Championships meeting at Tamworth