Harry Coffey will be sweating out a multi-million dollar dilemma in the next two weeks while trainer Grahame Begg decides whether to start his born-again stayer Nonconformist in the $5 million All-Star Mile on March 18 at The Valley or the $3 million Australian Cup seven days later at Flemington.
In what has been billed the great Blamey Boilover, the Swan Hill hoop rode Nonconformist to victory in Saturday’s Group 2 $300,000 Blamey Stakes over 1600m.
In a win-win win, it gave Coffey his first Group 2 and Nonconformist a wild card into the All-Star Mile.
But the dilemma gets deeper – Jordie Childs is the go-to guy for the Begg stable, and while Coffey was doing the hard Group 2 yards in Melbourne, Begg was at Royal Randwick watching Childs steer his mare Passive Aggressive to glory in the Group 2 $500,000 Challenge Stakes over 1000m.
“It’s been awesome to get on a horse like him, and awesome to be able to ride him so well,” Coffey said.
“And I must admit, we got a lovely run throughout and got through at the right time, and I don’t know what’s going to happen now.
“I’ll have to try and keep Jordie Childs off him, ’cause he’s been in Sydney riding Grahame’s filly up there, who’s performed really well.
“It really was so awesome to get such an astute opportunity for such a good stable, and awesome to deliver.”
Nonconformist, with Craig Williams at the controls, finished second in the 2021 Caulfield Cup to Peter Moody’s Incentivise, and looked dazzling first up at the weekend.
The win was also Coffey’s only ride for the day and he wasn’t going to let the opportunity go to waste, leaving second placegetter Pounding more than two lengths adrift, with another half-length to Banker’s Choice.
Victory didn’t make too many friends for Coffey with the punters, his horse started at 19/1 and paid $21.10.
“I’m pretty rapt, this is my first Group Two and it had been starting to annoy me a little bit,” Coffey said. “It’s great to get a win in a race like that.
“The Blamey is one that is so well recognised and it’s a great form race at this time of the year and going forward, especially with the races it leads up to, such as the All Star or Australian Cup.”
Coffey won his sole G1 race on Sopressa in the Australasian Oaks in 2018.
“We wanted him to be relaxed, and finishing off, and running to the line,” Coffey said.
“And Grahame said to me if I could get him to do that he would be happy. He added ‘I’m not saying he can’t win, but if he did, well that would be even better’.
“Well I think he exceeded everyone’s expectations, including Grahame’s
“I think it’s just great to see the old horse back – I think in his last prep it was all about him, leading up to the Caulfield Cup, which didn’t end up eventuating, but today’s performance looks like he’s back and when he performs like that he can probably reach any heights he likes.”
Nonconformist was sent straight to the paddock following his Cup run and spelled for 40 weeks. His return to racing left him looking a shadow of his former self – in his five starts of that prep his best result was an eighth in a field of 14.
Given another 15 weeks off, on March 4, he was back – and boy, was he back.
Getting away smoothly from gate six, Coffey took up an inside position just off the middle of the 14-horse field and then showed great patience as the field chewed up the metres and headed for home.
At the 400m Coffey wasn’t in the hunt, at the 300m he was in the clear, at the 200m he was coming fast and by the 150m was exploding down the outside before running away with the $180,000 winner’s slice of the pie.
The Flemington win was a good follow-up to Coffey’s success on Andrew Bobbin’s Hard Questions at Bendigo five days earlier. Coffey also rode it to victory at Werribee on February 3.
