SATURDAY and another city winner for Harry Coffey – this one at Caulfield.
Next stop is this weekend’s Swan Hill Cup Carnival, where the 28-year-old Group 1 winning Swan Hill jockey will have his sights set on one of the most elusive targets in his already illustrious career.
The 2024 Swan Hill Cup itself – the one country cup he covets above all others.
After steering Mystery Island to victory in the $300,000 Warrnambool Cup on May 2, one of the first things Coffey talked about post-race was the Swan Hill Cup and how it is really annoying him that he hasn’t been able to win it.
And on Saturday, in the $150,000 Manhari Metals Handicap over 1100m, he confirmed he is at the peak of his powers when he took 20/1 longshot La Danseuse Rouge to a runaway victory.
It was the four-year-old mare’s first win of the season, just 0.01 seconds outside the course record and the perfect set-up to bring to his home track.
“She’s a bit unique, a bit of a unit, she’s the sort of horse that when you are sitting there putting your colours on, all the riders who have had anything to do with her say ‘do you know this one’?” he laughs. “And I answered ‘no, I don’t, but I have heard about her’.
“Today she was last in the barriers, which is a big help, and I don’t think it’s a big secret that everyone in our industry has great respect for our barrier attendants, and here in Victoria we have got some of the best I have ever come across, so when you have got good help, thing usually go pretty smoothly,” Coffey added.
“Then the race unfolded how it did and allowed her to run it out with a powerful finish.”
Coffey said at Caulfield a lot of horses “naturally want to go at a good clip” into the first bend, and that happened for him.
However, he said La Danseuse Rouge “balanced up pretty well” in the middle of the field.
“Although I did get a bit worried at some stages as I really would have loved to follow Ashford Street and run along on its tail,” he said.
“But I just wasn’t able to, they were going along really well, and I just wanted to keep her happy. “She didn’t go off in the barrier on me, so I thought ‘I’ll let you do what you want now, after you looked after me’ and that probably provided her with a real good turn of foot.
“That’s when she flew down the outside and was too good. I was very confident, very early, in the straight that I was going to be able to pick them up.
“But I do reckon she would like a little bit more give in the ground, which is starting to firm up, which is why they are probably running so quick and running good times.
“La Danseuse Rouge is a class horse but I also assume she is very frustrating for everyone involved because her barrier manners aren’t great, but all was well today.”
