HARRY Coffey didn’t just have a perfect day at Sandown on Saturday – he produced a couple of miracles while he was at it.
The Swan Hill jockey had just three rides for the day – all at a price – and landed every one of them.
A success he attributed to the recent birth of his son Thomas, which he says had led to him riding less but with a fresher attitude.
Coffey said his change in lifestyle since Thomas was born on May 1 resulted in him staying at home to help his wife Tayla with their baby, and this had led to a revaluation of his lifestyle.
“I’m usually a bit of a workhorse, riding all the time, but since Thomas was born, I’m only riding closer to home and in Melbourne on a Saturday,” Coffey said.
“I’m riding a little bit fresher and a bit better,” he added, in one of the understatements of the current season.
Because wins two and three were both overseas horses which had not won a race since arriving in Australia.
Monarch of Egypt, a $US750,000 yearling, is as close to royalty as American racing can get.
He isn’t just the son of the 12th Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, he was the superstar’s first runner and first winner.
Unfortunately for the horse’s connections, Monarch’s first win at Naas in Ireland in April, 2019 would be his last for 1505 days.
Until he got Harry Coffey in the saddle to record his second win in 23 starts, taking out the $130,000 IVE Handicap over 1400m.
The US bred six-year-old gelding had raced in Ireland, England and Hong Kong before landing in Australia for his first start here in December last year.
In just 11 starts his father racked up nine wins and a second for $US8.6 million in prizemoney.
Lindsay Park stables representative Rahis Baig said: “Harry gave him a good ride and kept him in a three-wide line with cover and produced him in the middle of the track, so a great result”.
Coffey says the win was “a mixture of the boys (Ben and JD Hayes) doing a really good job with him”.
“I was riding him in the autumn and he was going quite well, but they just thought the racing was getting a little bit stronger for him, so they just backed off, freshened him and waited for the winter months, where they thought he would thrive,” he said.
“You know, he’s got the win today because of the patience the boys had with him.
“Sometimes they take a while between drinks, and he’s obviously come from Hong Kong. Now I believe with this win today he should be really able to build some momentum and race through the winter and hopefully pick up another couple of wins.”
Coffey said for him it has been “making sure your timing is right with him”.
“He’s got a good sharp turn of foot, but you don’t want to get there too early,” he explained.
“But to his credit today, Damien (Oliver) on the second horse got in front of me, and we were going pretty hard at it early in the straight, and my fellow kicked back and put in a really tough performance and probably felt the best underneath me that he has.”
In the last of the day, the $150,000 Catanach’s Jewellers Hcp over 1800m, Coffey put in what he considered his ride of the day, steering the French born Normandy Bridge to its first Australian win, and its first for 996 days.
Normandy Bridge won its first two races in France in September and October 2020 – at Longchamps and Sant-Cloud – and then didn’t win again until Saturday
Maher and Eustace stable representative Jack Turnbull said first and foremost it’s been about getting the win with Normandy Bridge.
“He’s been terribly frustrating, and he’s taken a long time mentally to get here,” Turnbull says.
“He was very hot and has been gelded, and then he had a little niggle in his first prep here in Australia, and he’s a very difficult horse pre and post-race.
Coffey agreed it was “a good win actually”.
He said they had the run of the race, in which “things worked out well and he was in a beautiful rhythm”.
“But I just liked, once he got tested, by what are some of our handier horses, especially for the winter in Melbourne, the way he knuckled down,” Coffey added.
“He fought them and then he was going away from them again late, so he’s been a little bit wayward. He’s been a little bit out of form, but his run last start suggested that maybe he was ready to do something and today, once we drew that nice gate, we were able to show it.
“Really happy for the Connections but mostly the horse, he can be frustrating, but deep down he’s a really nice horse with a lot of ability, so hopefully from today he can show what he can do.”
The first of Coffey’s treble was with Cardigan Queen in the $80,000 Barry J. Brennan Memorial over 1300m – also for the Maher/Eustace stable.
Coffey may have liked his last ride, but his first was a stunning win, the proverbial “out of the clouds” where he went from third last at the 400m in the 16-horse field to win by a long neck in the last two strides before the post.
“I had a little bit to do with her last prep and she just wasn’t quite humming,” Coffey said.
“But two runs back this prep, and a really nice run at Warrnambool and the one today, where she had to let down and gallop for a long way at her top, and she was still able to fight them off and still win the race,” he says.
“I won a classic on her as a two-year-old so she has been a horse that’s good to me and I’m pleased to see her back as an older mare and winning again.”
