SWAN Hill’s hit-and-run specialists, Harry Coffey and Madison Lloyd, swept into Ballarat on Sunday and landed a winning double and a second place from just three rides, all for the McEvoy stable.
Coffey kicked the day off with a second on Alectrone (albeit two lengths adrift) in the first, but it was just a teaser for races five and six, when the pair took two odds-on favourites and delivered in style.
In the $35,000 James Vac Solutions over 2000m, Coffey and Tommy took charge from the get-go, controlling the race and leaving the field to play catch-up.
Which it never did.
It was a great tune-up for Coffey as he prepares to head back to town this weekend to ride Nonconformist in the $5 million Group 1 Caulfield Cup.
On Saturday, the pair teamed up for the $1 million Might and Power – dominated by the mighty Alligator Blood – to finish fourth.
“Nonconformist was good, there were a couple who were a little bit sharper than him and I think that run Saturday will either really bring him on or it will make him flat,” Coffey says.
“But I thought each run this prep he has been improving really nicely and he looks cherry ripe for this coming Saturday.”
“Whether he is good enough, time will tell, but we do have to remember he is going to have a fair old drop in weights, which will really suit him, and hopefully we can get a nice run and really let rip.”
Coffey also saddled the talented Southport Tycoon in the $3 million Caulfield Guineas, but had a very shaky start when the horse was backed out of the stalls for a vet check, just before the starter let them go.
But on Sunday, Coffey did everything by the book on Tommy, running with blinkers on, to win by three lengths with little visible effort, with everyone else struggling to make any impression.
Trainer Tony McEvoy described it as “a good ride by Harry, he took control of the race and it was really lovely to watch”.
Coffey says earlier in its career, the five-year-old gelding had been a bit hot and fiery.
“But today he behaved really well and now we have seen a very good side of Tommy,” he says.
“It was a nice staying performance and yes, he did control the race and that’s a nice trait to have, to be able to do that from the front – and keep going away from them, so there will be plenty of fun for his owners to play with him and I think he will win more races.
“Even though he does have a tendency to get a bit keen, today he got into a very nice rhythm, and we were able to switch him off, so I think he is a work in progress, and potentially his best may be 2400m. But he carried a big weight today so I wanted to make it a nice, rolling gallop for when it was time to go – as I didn’t want to be left flatfooted.
“We’ve been having a frustrating run of seconds so even though Tony is very supportive, hopefully Tommy is going to help turn that around.”
Lloyd completed the double 35 minutes later with Give Giggles, the very lightly-raced four-year-old being sent out a very short-priced favourite
Lloyd says the horse, now with three wins from four starts, “is a very quick mare and just loves galloping fast”.
And she says GG does it all underneath you.
“But I was just saying to Calvin (McEvoy), I don’t think she loves that ground (rated soft 6 before racing started),” Lloyd says.
“This time it was just her ability which was what got her over the line today.
“I galloped her the other morning, her last day of race work, and it was enormous – fast as usual because that’s what she loves doing.”
Lloyd is now doing a lot of riding for the McEvoy stable, and working more closely with its up-and-coming horses.
She says Giggles came to them as “very green and very spooky, but now she just knows what everything is about”.
“This is a nice horse and I am very grateful I am being given the opportunity to sit on her for races,” she says.
Calvin McEvoy says they now have their eye on town with GG, as he paid credit to Lloyd’s ride.
“It was a nice ride from Maddie, they tried to take her on a little bit, and she probably had to do it the hard way but they were too good,” he explains.
“We’ll head to Flemington on the last day for a BM80 over 1100m, it will be throwing her in the deep end a bit but we think she is going to measure up to that grade at some point.”
