IT was a weekend of classic Coffey – starting Friday night at the Valley and wrapping up in the last at Bendigo on Sunday.
And with a triple for his troubles, Coffey cashed in on the absence of rider Daniel Moor at Bendigo with a pick-up ride on Divino Cavallo and his biggest win of the weekend – slightly more than half a length.
Just as well too – she was sent out the heavily backed favourite.
But there’s no show without a bit of Coffey theatrics – he took Divino Cavallo from last to first in the run to the line, running over the top of the small field in the $35,000 Happy Retirement Jenny Rawiller Handicap over 1100m.
It was a hot day in the saddle for everyone, with the races getting away from an early 11am, which explains why Coffey was more than happy to accept a pineapple flavoured icy-pole during his post-race interview after the last on the Bendigo card.
“This is a first for me,” he joked.
“I’ve never had an icy-pole before during an interview.”
But once he cooled down he agreed his four-year-old mare had done a good job.
“She sort of looked like in a small field she would sit up front with the first couple and be too good, but when she missed the start we had to go to Plan B,” Coffey said.
“Which probably worked a lot better, it all just unfolded, and she let down well down the outside and was too good.
“So even though we missed the start, my job was pretty easy after that – once we elected to go to Plan B and follow the race.
“Although she was a little bit green when I first went for it, but I really like the way she ran through the line.
“There is still improvement there because of that, and I reckon she will be able to go up in grade and continue to race well.”
It was a brilliant bookend for the stinking hot day.
Earlier, in the second of the day – the $35,000 Adroit Insurance Handicap over 2400m – it was Coffey at his last-gasp best, pushing the very unfancied Alpine Rocket to the lead in the last 100m to corral the pacemaker and hold off the challengers.
Despite late charges by favourites Dartboard and Wealdstone, by the time they got going Coffey and Alpine Rocket were gone.
Crossing the line almost half a length in front, the 15/1 Andrew Bobbin trained four-year-old gelding had picked up the third win in its 17-race career.
Coffey, speaking post-race, said the Bobbin team was going strongly at the moment, helped by the way he presented his horses as very fit because of his training facilities.
“They are usually pretty sound because of the sand they are on, and the past few days have been fruitful for him,” he said.
“And it was nice for me to get one, because I have been watching them, and thinking when was I going to get my turn.
“This fella has a nice gait and we had an easy run, and he didn’t have to do any work, and then it all sort of opened up without me having to think too much.
“He found enough and as we all know; the stable is in form and when you are rolling like that the luck comes your way – and that’s what happened today.”
In the $60,000 Commerical@Cirka over 3000m at the Valley Friday night, Coffey opened his account in the extra-long 3000m event with Flying Pharaoh.
The runners casually bowled along in Indian file for most of the 3km before the small field of six bunched up heading into the last turn.
Entering the straight he looked most likely to be the best thing beaten.
“I had wanted to ride him a little bit sneaky, so I could trick him into trying, which is why at the top if the straight I thought I had overdone it,” he said.
“We were sort of coming across their heels at the top of the straight and it got pretty tight and he’s got a tendency to want to hang in and the last set of heels. The horse that Billy (Egan on Jenny the Beaver) was on, was proving pretty difficult to get across – and then the gap came.
“So I allowed him to quicken through it, and that’s his thing, he likes to hang in, so it all worked out well and we tricked him into winning.”
The horse was picked up online for just $4500 by the Dane Smith stable at Stawell as a jumper when Smith realised his sire was legendary US galloper American Pharoah, winner of the Triple Crown and the first to take out the US grand slam in the modern era.
“I have had a lot to do with the whole crew and the Smith family – it’s awesome to get a win for them,” Coffey said.
He added that he has ridden a lot of challenging horses such as Flying Pharoah.
“I specialise in them riding for my old man – they don’t try that hard,” he said.
