IT wasn’t a great day for Swan Hill trainers on Sunday, with 37 entries going around their home track but only one horse getting up and two jockeys saluting.
The grand old firm of Coffey & Son stood up when it counted, with five-year-old gelding Tatsuro, which has had only nine starts for the Swan Hill trainer, getting up in the $27,000 Pooles Accountants Handicap over 1600m.
The win was not expected by punters, who sent the gelding out at 14/1, but trainer Austy Coffey said Tatsuro’s form had been heading in the right direction.
“He had his first start with us in March, here at home, and finished in the middle of the 12-horse field,” Coffey said.
“Before we got him, Tatsuro had had 23 starts for just the one win – and that was June last year.
“But his form had been improving, he had picked up a couple of thirds and fourths, showing he was thereabouts, it was just a matter of finding the right race for him.”
Tatsuro made his racing debut at Caulfield in October 2020 and, despite six of his first seven starts being on city tracks, Coffey doesn’t expect to see him back there any time soon.
The horse has been through a few trainers, but Coffey has been the only one to get any real consistency out of him.
Coffey & Son were back at The Valley on Friday night with Sports Idol, who finished third in the $60,000 Xtreme Freight Handicap over 2040m.
Harry Coffey, who was riding at Ararat yesterday, also thought it was only a matter of time before Tatsuro logged another win as he had been going well.
“I do a lot of his trackwork and he has been really good of late so while he may have not been a short-priced favourite on Sunday, I was not at all surprised by his win,” Harry said.
“The key move Dad made was, for me, the introduction of blinkers for him, they really did the trick.
“And once we got into the clear on Sunday he showed some outstanding acceleration at the business end of the race.
“It was great to have at least one local horse get up, although other trainers picked up plenty of places, a bit like my career of late,” he joked.
The other local highlight was jockey Madison Lloyd’s win in the $27,000 Bottle O Swan Hill Maiden Plate over 1600m.
Riding the Ben, Will and J.D. Hayes-trained Rusty Gold at only its second start, she tipped out Harry Coffey on Maunarente by a long neck, with another Hayes horse, Henry Robin, a similar distance away third.
It was Lloyd’s third win since becoming a senior jockey at the end of last month.
