Horse Racing: Cody Morgan celebrating the biggest win of his career

Understandably so. After all it's not every day as a country trainer you train a winner in a $500,000 race.

The Tamworth trainer is celebrating the biggest win of his career with Ezekeil storming to victory in Saturday's Magic Millions Country Cup on the Gold Coast.

Coming three weeks after he achieved a career-first four winners at his home track, Morgan was on Sunday still pinching himself, the $290,000 winning prizemoney a long way from the $9,800 for winning the Glen Innes Cup seven days earlier.

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"The amount of prize money is just staggering, it really is," he said, admitting that he was still getting used to talking about that amount of money.

Fighting back the tears as he was interviewed by Channel 7's Jason Richardson post-race, Morgan confessed there were a few shed.

But that's how much it meant to him.

Racing is, as he put it, his life.

"I don't have a hobby outside of racing, it's everything," he said.

Part of the emotion was that he'd been burned before; had favourites and heavily-fancied runners in Country Championship finals and Kosciuszko's but "got absolutely flogged every time".

"And not one or two, shivers it's been three of four years of it," he said.

"When he shot clear at the 200 I said to my apprentice (Corey Sutherland) 'this must be how these trainers in the Country Championships or a Kosciuszko must feel; it's bloody amazing'."

Knowing how well Ezekeil had worked and how he races, he knew he had it then.

It was a good night celebrating with the owners, who had come from all over - Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Tamworth, Dubbo.

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"They were just ecstatic. That was as much a huge thrill," Morgan said.

Three of them only brought a share in November after someone put theirs up for sale. Paying $1500 for a 10 per cent stake, they have now won over $30,000.

Given a great ride by Jamie Kah, the win capped off what has been a bit of a whirlwind ride, with the race not even on Morgan's radar until Ezekeil won the Newmarket Handicap in early December.

"And I dare say if he didn't win at Armidale I wouldn't have gone looking for a race interstate, he would have just been running around home somewhere, and racing for 20, 30 grand," he said.

Not for just shy of $300,000.

"He's just really come good these last two runs, he's just been exceptional," he said.

One thing Morgan's previous experience in the big races has taught him is that you need luck.

"I'm convinced when you're in a maiden if you're the best horse you'll probably win anyway but once you get to that higher level, unless you're Winx, you need an element of luck on your side and we got it yesterday," he said.

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"Everything fell into place, we got the rider, we drew a good barrier."

Going to bed on Friday night thinking "everything's great", he admitted he was concerned when he woke up on Saturday morning to rain and saw that the track had been downgraded from a Good 4 to a Heavy 9, with Ekezeil not being a noted wet track horse.

But he handled it well. Being the first race helped because the track "wasn't that affected".

He said Ezekeil had pulled up well and will probably now go "for a good spell" before potentially being aimed at the Kosciuszko.

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