Harry Coffey may just have landed the most unique double in the annals of Victorian horseracing – and done it at his home track in front of his home crowd.
With a good book of rides, the Swan Hill hoop started slowly but was clearly saving his best for last.
This was winning races six and seven – the $27,000 Harry Coffey Swan Hill Jockey of the Year Handicap (1600m) and $27,000 Austy Coffey Swan Hill Trainer of the Year Handicap (1200m).
Perhaps Coffey’s only blemish on the day was in race eight, the $27,000 Sports Idol Swan Hill Horse of the Year Handicap (975m), which he didn’t win but which was named for his father Austy’s star galloper, which took out the crown in the 2022/23 season.
But local trainer Nathan Hobson picked up the baton in the final event to make it a Swan Hill treble to close out the pick-up meeting, which had been shifted from Mildura.
In his own race Coffey got away strongly on the heavily-backed favourite North Channel before seeing off all challengers in the straight to literally run away over the mile and finish two lengths clear at the line.
Speaking post-race Coffey said he felt the Hayes-trained North Channel was going to be a horse that didn’t win by a lot but always seemed to get the job done.
“All the statistics and all that, and the clock, probably won’t really tell you just how good a win this really was,” Coffey said.
“I just think he will continue to just do enough each time and he will continue to go through the grades – he seems a really nice horse, a polite horse, a nice type who just wants to do everything right.
“We weren’t too keen on leading but he just controlled the race from the front and he was too good.”
The self-deprecating Coffey, only days back from a rough riding suspension, laughed about his “big day” at Hamilton on Monday, where he “didn’t get a winner”.
“Then I got rolled in my first couple here today and I was beginning to think I might have lost the knack, but it was nice to get a win now and get some confidence,” he said.
“The Hayes boys sent a couple of nice horses up here and I thought ‘ooh, maybe I will get them all rolled’
“But it was nice to be out in front and win one as well, because the jocks in the room reference me as Sleepy Harry, so it’s nice to remind them, even when I am in the front, I can get the job done.”
Coming back to scale after winning his father’s race, the first thing Coffey asked was “Where did dad’s horse finish?”
But he was more worried about a face in the crowd than his father’s in the mounting yard when he discovered Sports Idol had finished fourth in a photo finish for all placings.
“I might be in trouble when I get home because Sports Idol is my wife Tayla’s favourite horse,” he said, pointing her out.
“So yes, I think there could be a little bit of trouble, especially as he (Sports Idol) ran so well.
“I saw this horse trial the other day at Bendigo and I’m quite friendly with the Pace family (Arthur Pace is the trainer) and I said to them ‘When he runs first-up I wouldn’t mind riding him’, and he’s produced the goods.
“And this race suited him and there was a good tempo and we were just back on the fence and not doing any work and then he just let rip.
“Usually he can only do that at Bendigo but Swan Hill is probably a pretty similar layout to that track, and it was good to get a winner for the Pace family.
“It was awesome to win Dad’s race.
“I might even take him out for dinner on the back of that.”
