Cody Morgan: Highlights dominates Highway at Randwick

That in itself speaks volumes for the Tamworth trainer's success in recent years.

For the record, it was his eighth success in a Highway - reserved for horses that are prepared by NSW country or Australian Capital Territory trainers.

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All up he has nine Sydney wins.

Morgan was not in Sydney when apprentice Tom Sherry steered Highlights to an impressive length-and-a-half win over the Clint Lundholm-trained Smooth Esprit (Kerrin McEvoy) in the $100,000 race on Saturday.

In another mark of Morgan's growing stature in the industry, he was back home "mixing feeds" while overseeing the 49 other horses he has in work. His father, Glenn, represented him at Randwick.

Not that long ago, Cody Morgan Racing was half that size.

Morgan said: "I told my partner, when we had 25 [horses], that'll do ... and now there's 50 - and there's probably another 10 or 15 in pre-training. So it's turned into a big business."

With his business partner and new fiancee, Lucy Goodsell, by his side, Morgan expects his operation to keep growing.

He said "there's a lot of good trainers out there. So if you say no [to a prospective client], they normally don't come back around. So that's always been my motto: take 'em, and go from there."

Highlights backed up his victory over 1600m at Tamworth on January 20 with what Morgan described as a "really good effort" in the Highway Handicap (1800m).

"That was above average," he said. "He carried more weight than most of the field ... It was a very soft win."

The trainer added: "I'm not sure if he'll go to paddock or he'll go to Brisbane."

Highlights paid $5 for the win (TAB fixed odds).

He now has three victories from 12 starts, for more than $116,000 in prize money. The Highway triumph was worth $46,400.

Third in the race, by almost two lengths, was the Paul Messara-trained Still In Fashion (Reece Jones).

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