SWAN Hill’s Coffey clan clocked up different milestone at Kyneton on Thursday when the high-profile father-son combination scored their 100th win as trainer and jockey.
This was despite confusion about whether Tatsuro’s victory in the $35,000 Jay Bourke Handicap over 1454m was actually number 99 or 101.
But once it was sorted out the party was started.
The remarkable story began on Melbourne Cup day in 2011 – but at a Mildura meeting, not Flemington – when Harry rode Rokeby to its maiden win over 1000m.
While the father and son have an obviously special bond on and off the track, they could not have been more different after the race when they described what the 100 meant to them.
Heaping praise on his son’s ride – and career – Coffey senior apologised for “getting a bit emotional”.
When asked if Harry would be just as emotional, his father said with a laugh: “No, for him it will just be another interview – he’ll say something like ‘how did the old man go’?”
It wasn’t quite that blase, but a jubilant Coffey junior did crack “I just said to Dad I might have miscounted, and we might only be on 99, and he said, ‘Oh, gee, don’t tell them that, it’ll ruin the whole story’.”
When Rokeby won for the Coffeys 12 years ago, it was one of two winning rides for Harry, but only one leg was for team Coffey.
When Harry and Tatsuro saluted on Thursday it was the second leg of another double for the hoop, and again, only one leg was on his dad’s horse.
The win on Tatsuro was selected as ride of the day at Kyneton
Don’t miss Friday’s The Guardian for a major report on the rise and rise of the Coffey and Coffey partnership.
