IT took two days, multiple rides, scratchings and, then, finally, in the 20th race of the 2025 Warrnambool May Carnival, Swan Hill’s Harry Coffey landed a winner.
That was when he took the heavily backed Symon Wilde favourite Persian Spirit to the narrowest of victories in the $50,000 Whalers Hotel Handicap over 1400m.
It was just the third win in the career of the lightly raced four-year-old – but the nose on the line, holding off the fast finishing Boltsaver, next in the betting, was more than enough.
When the field jumped Coffey quickly found a spot midfield, with plenty of cover and no hard work, not having to do much until they swung into the final turn.
As he moved forward, Boltsaver started to track him, but they parted ways when Coffey temporarily ran into a roadblock and John Kelly opted to take his horse wide as they lined up for the run home.
But while it was covering extra country, Coffey, as cool as a cucumber, spotted his gap and charged through.
Boltsaver had almost caught up with 100m to go but Coffey was working overtime in the saddle and that was just enough to get the job done.
Swan Hill’s Con Kelly, with two runners in the race, looked a chance in the straight with 200m left when his horse Shal Exceed fired up along the fence and almost hit the front, before tiring to finish fifth.
It set the scene for Coffey’s ride in yesterday’s Warrnambool Cup (run after the Guardian went to press) where he was chasing back-to-back victories with Mystery Island – taking it to success there for Shane Jackson in 2024.
Although with no wins in the wet, the very consistent Persian Spirit, trained in Warrnambool by Wilde, had a question mark hanging over its chances when asked to plough its way through a heavy eight which had copped even more rain during the day.
And Boltsaver is considered one of the best mudlarks in the business.
A mud-spattered Coffey agreed and said post-race he genuinely thought it would get the better of him in the straight.
“When he drew up alongside me, especially after we had had that rain, I thought he might have me,” Coffey said.
“He’s known for being a wet tracker, and I love winning, but I did feel a little guilty beating one of my best mates, Rhys (Echuca-based Rhys Archard, trainer of Boltsaver) because it’s a little bit quicker for Symon to get home than for Rhys to drive back to Echuca,” he added.
“I guess they’ll just have to put me on him one day.
“Persian Spirit has been going very, very well and I was lucky enough to pick the ride up, and I thought they might run him tomorrow.
“He was in for both places and looked hard to beat and I was a little bit unsure on the wet ground and the 1400m, so I just elected to ride in around the bend and kept the bridle in his mouth as long as possible.
“That allowed him to have a turn of foot and Johnny (Allen) had the wood on me, but we were able to fight back, get off the canvas and that’s hard to do on wet tracks when the horse beside you has the momentum.
“So a good win and superbly placed by Symon and his team and he should be able to keep going on with it now.”
