Ashley Morgan moved further ahead in the NSW premiership with a Newcastle-trained double which featured a potential Four Pillars contender at Scone on Monday.
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Morgan, a Newcastle-based Welsh hoop, went to 127 winners for the season, nine clear of superstar jockey James McDonald, on the NSW standings with just over a month remaining in the campaign. He started the Scone program with victory on the Jason Deamer-trained Decadent Tale in the 2200m benchmark 66 handicap then took Sam Kavanagh-prepared Kayobi to back-to-back wins at the track in the 1400m class 1 handicap. Kayobi, a three-year-old Maurice gelding which came to Kavanagh from Scone trainer Paul Messara, settled just behind the leaders then sprinted quickly to the front inside the 300m mark on the way to a 0.86 of a length win over Navajo Peak. Kavanagh now had his sights set on the October 29 Four Pillars (1500m), a $700,000 slot race for Midway Handicap level-trained horses.
"Obviously we're very lucky and benefitting from the work that Arrowfield have put in, they've taken him along slowly and really looked after him as a young horse," Kavanagh told Sky Racing.
"We're very happy and I think he's the right horse to promote for the Four Pillars in the spring. I probably won't run him again until the weights are out so he doesn't have a lot of weight.
"I think he's the right horse - 1500 at Rosehill, Midway, benchmark 68 - I think he's a serious contender for a race like that, so we'll probably give him a couple of weeks on the water walker and get him back in for the spring.
"He's just got really good tactical speed early, which allows Ash, both times he's been drawn wide and he's put him in a beautiful position. He's been ridden perfectly, then picks them up in three strides and sort of gets lost when he goes past them. But I think there's a lot more to come."
Morgan agreed.
"It was a bit of a tricky barrier but he makes my job very easy, he jumps and gets into a spot," Morgan said. "He's still learning his craft but he's just going to improve. He puts them away then floats, but I really like him. He's doing everything right."