Ezekeil has been installed as favourite for the Newhaven Park Country Championships Final but trainer Cody Morgan said he had some boxes to tick to confirm that standing at Tamworth on Sunday.

Morgan will land his fourth win in the $150,000 Hunter & North West Country Championships (1400m) in the past five years if one of his four runners salutes in the Tamworth qualifier today.

Four-year-old Ezekeil is the $7 elect to win the $500,000 final at Royal Randwick despite being unproven at the distance, and that’s one of Morgan’s chief concerns. However, he said he has had the right platform to prove himself a worthy favourite.

“I don’t think we’ve seen who should be favourite yet; maybe that will come out on the weekend,” Morgan said. “Of the heats so far, I think they’re all pretty even.

“I don’t know if we’ve seen a Noble Boy or a Clearly Innocent yet. Ezekeil has a great record but I’m a bit hesitant that he should be a clear favourite.

“He’s just got a few negatives, and that’s a distance query and 59kg, but the draw will help and his trackwork has been great.”

Ezekeil ran second last a year ago as a $7 chance in this race and failed to beat one home in the Wild Card at Scone in his two attempts at 1400m. Morgan said the gelding was stronger now and was coming off a couple of career-best performances to win at Armidale over 1100m and the Country Cup (1200m) on Magic Millions Day at the Gold Coast by clear margins.

“I’ve had an opportunity to work him out; he enjoys his races being spaced, and ever since we’ve done that he’s been effective,” he said.

“This will give us a good guide going forward. He’s as well as he can be, so if he doesn’t run it out strongly we won’t experiment with it again. I know he was dominant at the Gold Coast but he’s going from 54kg at 1200m to 59kg at 1400m.