Swan Hill jockey Harry Coffey may not have had much joy on Skyphios, his ride in Saturday’s $3 million Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (the 150/1 longshot finished at the tail end of the 16-horse field).
But that didn’t stop Coffey rolling up to Ballarat on Sunday and taking out the $37,500 Ingenia Parkside Lucas BM64 Hcp over 2600m – his second win on Stephen Brown’s five-year-old gelding Egyptian Wonder.
Although it didn’t turn out to be a textbook gallop – even Coffey could admit that.
“He’s easy enough to ride, but I did get myself into a couple of little traffic issues,” he conceded.
“The horse is just not brilliant out of the gates, and when you get a low draw, he can be pushed to the fence and that can happen with him a bit.
“Fortunately the nice tempo today meant they spread out a bit and that allowed me to get through, but yes, at the top of the straight if you had backed him, you might have been thinking ‘what’s he doing’?”
And he would be right. Quickly shuffled to the rear of the small field after its slow start, the heavily-backed Egyptian Wonder looked like he was out for a Sunday stroll.
Closing in on 600m to go he looked, for all the world, gone.
But the Coffey luck kicked back in and as he thundered down the straight with nowhere to go, a tight run opened and he was able to squeeze through.
“He probably doesn’t accelerate brilliantly, but boy, once he does find his top he is able to hold that sustained gallop for a long way and that’s why the races that simply roll along really suit him much better than the sit and sprints – and today the race went at just our tempo,” Coffey said.
“Today was a testing enough staying race for him alone, and I reckon that if they had slacked right off and then sprinted for home, well that’s when he gets about found out.
“I wouldn’t say he was bolting, but he took a long while to pull up, he really is an out and out stayer.”
Harry said the sunshine and gentle breeze had helped dry out the track so it was actually performing much better than its official heavy nine rating.
He said there was barely any kickback and “on a heavy nine anywhere you would expect to get that”.
