2022 Tamworth Cup: Gai Waterhouse and John Hawkes eye $200,000 race

Following the announcement of the final field on Wednesday, industry heavyweights John Hawkes and Gai Waterhouse will each have one runner in the $200,000 race.

Hawkes's five-year-old gelding Bandersnatch (Brenton Avdulla) - the top weight for the 1400m contest - was paying $8.50 for the win (TAB fixed odds) after drawing barrier five in the 14-horse field.

Waterhouse's seven-year-old gelding Regal Stage (Winona Costin) has drawn barrier eight and was paying $13.

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The Tamworth Cup has attracted a number of metropolitan and provincial stables, along with Sydney-based jockeys such as Avdulla, Rachel King and William Pike.

The winners and second-placed horses in the Cup will be eligible to enter the ballot for the Big Dance (1600m) at Randwick on November 1.

Tamworth trainer Cody Morgan has two horses in the Tamworth Cup, with Wren's Day (Pike) and Acrophobic (Ben Looker) drawing barriers nine and 17 respectively.

Wren's Day finished second to High Court in last year's Tamworth Cup. Morgan rates the eight-year-old gelding - who was on the third line of betting at $8 - as his best chance in the race "right now".

Acrophobic was an $18 chance.

Morgan expects to have another runner in the race, with Kiwi gelding Edit (Ilysha Collett) the first emergency, while his five-year-old gelding Kordia is the second emergency.

He said that comparing this year's field to previous Tamworth Cup fields was a "night and day" scenario.

"Which is a great thing," he said. "Because if you're good enough, you get rewarded with just incredible prize money."

"I'd say you wouldn't have had that level of trainer here since they had the Prime Stakes 20 years ago," he also said, adding: "I've been at this track 22 years and I can't remember Gai [Waterhouse] and John Hawkes having a runner in the same race [at Tamworth]."

Morgan said "it's real exciting - and we'll see how we go against our city counterparts."

The Kris Lees-trained Kinloch (Dylan Gibbons) was the $4.40 favourite. The Newcastle trainer also has Rustic Steel and Cristal Breeze entered.

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