RED hot Harry Coffey keeps on racking up the wins – a double at Ballarat on Tuesday has taken him to 64 for the season with the better part of five months still in hand to hit 100.
Coffey opened his account with highly fancied debutant Secret Location, which overcame some pre-race jitters in the $27,000 Ballarat Antenna Solutions over 1400m for the perfect start to his career.
Then he backed it up in the $27,000 Hygain Winner’s Choice over 2600m, with veteran stayer Mr Mischief keeping out of trouble to take the win.
There was almost some serious trouble when front runner Avellana appeared to get spooked at the crossing as the field turned into the back straight, dragging Ceardai off the track with it. Fortunately Dean Yendall on Avellana and Jamie Mott on Ceardai had the experience to stay in the saddle and settle their charges.
But the incident dramatically altered the running order and helped cleared a couple of potential roadblocks for Coffey and Mr Mischief.
“He did travel well, but we were in a bit of a yuck spot, with plenty of horses all around us,” Coffey said.
“But when you are travelling pretty well and the ones around you aren’t, you usually get a bit of luck and find a way out – and that’s what happened.
“I’m not really sure why I have done well on this horse (Tuesday made it four rides for three wins), I just seem to land on his back at the right time in the right races.
“Usually when he drops back to that 58 area he goes bang again, and I’m lucky enough to be on him.
“I think also I have ridden him a lot on big spacious tracks and he’s a big horse who likes to use his action, even though we were a bit held up today.”
Coffey said once he got Mr Mischief out in an open area, the horse “really extended nicely and I’ve been lucky enough to ride him on plenty of tracks that allow him to do that”.
He ended up running away with the race, standing high in the irons as he eased Mr Mischief down two lengths ahead of the also-rans.
Coffey might have been confident with his charge on the big Ballarat track, but punters had not shared his enthusiasm, sending out the seven-year-old gelding at 14/1 – while the almost even money favourite Prefer Us tailed off to finish stone cold last, more than 15 lengths adrift.
Earlier in the day Coffey’s ride on Secret Location was a classic example of the Swan Hill jockey’s current catch-me-if-you-can form.
“He was travelling like a horse that was going to quicken and improve if the gap came, albeit it was a bit tight, but once we did get through he lengthened a bit nicely,” he said of the three-year-old gelding.
“He has a really nice action and a very forward-going attitude, and he was very clean in the wind and that’s a very good sign for a young horse.
“He was a little bit nervous pre-race, a little bit anxious, so I gave him a really good warm-up and got those nerves out of him.
“Then he stood a little bit new in the gates, but we were lucky and got a clean breakaway and we were able to get a really advantageous spot in the running.
“Once that gap came, being a bit tidy he lengthened nicely through it and it was a good win.”
