Harry Coffey might love life in downtown Swan Hill, but he might be having second thoughts about moving to Ballarat.
The first few days of the new racing season has seen him strike gold in Ballarat, including a big treble from six rides on its synthetic track on Friday.
And he was back there on Monday, taking out the first race, the $27,000 Global Turf Plate over 1400m on the McEvoy trained Theodor – the first of his six rides for the day.
“The tempo was a little bit muddly, and I had the option to kick up and lead, keeping a couple of the other horses wider, but I felt like we were going to be three abreast and I just thought long-term for the horse I’d like to teach him to relax and finish,” Coffey said.
“I made them work a little bit but once they got there they really anchored up and they tried to get an easy race in front.
“I was probably lucky enough I was on the best horse and we were able to navigate our way out of trouble and get to the outside and go on and win.”
Coffey, back from an eight-meeting suspension handed down in the dying days of last season, hit his home track at Swan Hill on Thursday, and even with eight rides in the eight-race card (although his horse in the last would be scratched) the in-form jockey simply could not land a winner.
And he wasn’t alone, it proved a very tough day at the office for every Swan Hill rider and/or trainer even though their horses and rides blanketed the form guide.
No-one got a win, with the highlight possibly being trainer Helen Burns and her five-year-old gelding Superior Force, which finished second at 80/1 and paid $14.80 the place.
The next day, however, the Coffey magic was back at Ballarat, and he kicked home winners in the second, fourth and seventh races. In the third, Nyah West’s Madison Lloyd finished second and Coffey third, with Lloyd back for another second in the sixth and Coffey another third in the last.
