SWAN Hill’s Harry Coffey and Kerang’s Jye McNeil are best mates – who refuse to give each other even an inch when the winning post is in sight.
Even on a day when the whole racing industry was mourning the loss of Deane Lester, one of the industry’s most enduring and high-profile figures.
At Flemington’s Black Caviar Lightning Stakes meeting on Saturday, Coffey exploded to the lead in the $130,000 Australian Childhood Foundation Trophy over 1600m – the opening event on the card.
Then got mowed down by McNeil on So You See in the shadows of the post, finishing a length in arrears by the time he got Monarch of Egypt across the line.
Fast forward to Ballarat on Sunday in the $37,500 Pipe Pro Direct Drilling Plate – also over the mile – and McNeil decided to play catch me if you can, on board the heavily backed Kaya, and went for home more than 900m out.
Bad plan. Coffey was able reel him in and then catch him – before blowing right by.
McNeil’s horse Kaya would come in stone cold last while Coffey and Acclimatise ran away with the race.
But what are mates for? One race later and McNeil was up to his old tricks, steering Savvy Bee to success in the $37,500 Mortimer Petroleum Plate over 1400m with Coffey’s Le Ferrari not quite fast enough and finishing second.
Bah, that’s nothing, Coffey clearly thought.
Yet another race later, in the $37,500 Porter Plant Plate over 1200m, the Swan Hill speedster aboard Royal Invader, hit the front as soon as the field settled, and this time no one could catch him.
Two days of racing, two winners each, nothing resolved. Look out for the next round coming to a track near you.
