IT’S become a signature celebration in the big city races – the winning jockey flinging his goggles into the adoring crowd.
In the bush it’s done differently.
After winning the $37,500 Sportsbet Bet With Mates over 1200m at Ballarat on Sunday, Swan Hill jockey Harry Coffey was returning to scale when he was stopped by fellow rider Jordan Childs jogging down the track.
Who wanted to borrow Coffey’s goggles.
“He told me he needed a pair for his next race (in which Coffey was also a starter) so I tossed them to him,” Coffey laughed when he reached the mounting yard.
“It’s become quite the thing now, people asking for goggles, Craig Williams hands them out like lollypops.
“But I only have a few pairs and Jordie told me he needed some for the next race, so I tossed them to him.”
In the next race Childs – wearing his borrowed goggles – finished second. Coffey, with his spares on, came sixth.
Racing aside, if there were frequent flyer points for jockeys, country hoops such as Coffey, and Nyah West’s Madison Lloyd, would be flying first class everywhere they go.
Exclude the kilometres of trackwork, exclude ground covered in races and exclude the training runs and just start totting up the driving they do – to trackwork, to trials, to jump-outs.
But because they’re country based that’s just the beginning of it.
On Friday night Lloyd was riding in Melbourne at Moonee Valley.
On Saturday afternoon she was on a plane bound for Adelaide and a book of rides at Morphettville.
Before heading home in time to really go bush at Terang on Sunday.
At the same time Coffey turned up at Kilmore, Moonee Valley, Sandown and Ballarat.
Lloyd is now Bendigo-based, making central access easier, but Coffey concedes he does pay a price – and need a lot of new cars – to live the lifestyle he loves. With his family in Swan Hill.
But it doesn’t seem to impact on his impact at the track. Seven months into the season and Coffey already has 59 winners – including the win on Sunday.
In that race Coffey rode the well-supported Jenny Jerome for the Patrick Payne stable and got a good jump, camped midfield on the fence until the turn into the straight, when the equally-well fancied frontrunner Deekay shifted in and Rosalia, the horse next to him, shifted to the outside.
Creating a gilt-edged gap through which Coffey steered his mount and swept to the lead and to victory.
“It was really good for her to get a win, she probably just needs to gain a bit of confidence again,” Coffey said.
“She’s probably just been running in really strong races and last start we didn’t have the nicest of runs and she drew a bad gate in a good race and didn’t get the greatest of rides.
“But today she drew one, nice run, got the job done, so that will be good for her.”
Coffey agreed the horse had some ability and said when a gap does come “you always know you’re going to have a little turn of foot to get into it”.
“She actually presented into the race like she was going to win with ease, but to the leader’s credit it fought on really well and made a race of it,” he said.
“She was also carrying weight, a filly against some older horses, so there might be a bit more merit to the win than it actually looks.
“But all she can do is win, and she did that, now she can get a bit more confidence and get winning.”
