Cody Morgan rates winning back-to back Tamworth Cups as one of the top achievements of his career.
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The Tamworth trainer became the first trainer in at least 15 years to win the Tamworth Jockey Club's showpiece race two years in-a-row when Ligulate stormed home down the outside to pip the Richard and Michael Freedman-trained Zaunkonig in a photo.
"When it's your home town Cup it is very special and being the second in succession makes it all the more special," Morgan said.
In winning Sunday's feature, the four-year old - as Unbiased had done for him the previous year - also completed the Country Championships Qualifier-Cup double.
"I was extremely lucky to have had two good horses to win both the Tamworth Qualifier and the Cup - right place, right time," Morgan reflected.
"I think if you consider a horse good enough to win a Tamworth Cup they should be competitive in the qualifier also. I guess Ligulate and Unbiased are proof of that."
Ligulate was the early favourite, but drifted after drawing out wide.
"I was confident if he drew a gate he would have been very hard to beat, so I was pretty disappointed when they came out and he'd landed 14," he said. "It took him every part of the 1400m to win because of that but he managed to just get there."
To the naked eye it appeared as though the Sydney raider had snatched it on the inside but as Morgan's father Glenn told The Leader post-race the angle of the photo finish is a bit deceiving.
Cody was clinging to that too.
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"Knowing the angle at Tamworth I knew I was a good chance but you're never confident, I've had plenty of moments when it's gone the other way," he said.
He had to watch the race from his bed at the Tamworth hospital, where he was recovering from surgery after breaking his leg in a trackwork incident on Saturday morning.
"I was heading off the track and my horse stumbled, dislodging me and I ended up being dragged for a few metres," he said.
Fracturing his tibia and fibula, he had a rod inserted down his tibia and a plate put on his fibula, and is looking at six weeks on crutches at this stage.
But he acknowledges it "could have been a lot worse".
His partner Lucy set up a laptop for him so he "didn't miss any of the action".
"I watched race 1 and she had to wake me up just before race 4 to watch my first runner," he said.
"After the Cup I was obviously a bit emotional and she asked me how I felt and all I could say was thankful."
As for Ligulate, the Scone Cup is next on his radar.
He will "then most likely head for a very deserving break" before a possible crack at The Kosciuszko.
"We'd love to see him picked for The Kosciuszko towards the end of the year," Morgan said.
