SWAN Hill jockey Harry Coffey has won his second Group 1, has pushed his career earnings past $30 million and has confirmed that his sizzling form of the past three seasons makes him a force on Australia’s racetracks.
On Saturday the 28-year-old hoop had only two rides, first in the $2 million Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes and then in the $750,000 Group 1 Oakleigh Plate.
He missed the money in the Blue Diamond but just 40 minutes later, riding South Australian longshot Queman, Coffey fought out one of the toughest and closest finishes in the classic’s 140-year history.
In the end he won a bobbing finish against fellow roughie Hypothetical and the euphoria was there for the world to see as he slapped the five-year-old gelding’s neck in triumph after crossing the line.
Grabbed almost immediately by mounted post-race interviewer Charlotte Littlefield, Coffey begged off speaking on air until he had exhausted his torrent of jubilantly expressive expletives as he tried to come to terms with his win – a win which had taken six years since his first Group 1, the Australasian Oaks at Morphettville in Adelaide in 2018.
In a twist of fate, Queman is an SA-owned and -trained horse brought over to tackle the Oakleigh.
And Coffey’s first Group 1 ride was also in the Oakleigh.
Trainer Shane Oxlade said Queman was “drawn to run the race of his life” and his form had been really good going in.
Oxlade said whether he knew the horse would be good enough to win “I didn’t know, but he did run the race of his life and we pulled it off”.
“I like Harry – always have,” he said.
“He rode for me when he was an apprentice and you want someone who is going to go out and do the right thing and give your horse a genuine chance – and I thought he would do that.
“And once he won on him, you weren’t going to take him off.
“Winning the Adams, which was the target, got him automatic entry to the Oakleigh and we weren’t going to pass up on that.”
Saturday’s dream race was a story which started on Australia Day when Coffey saddled up Queman for his first start in Melbourne: the listed WJ Adams Stakes.
That was the race the Oxlades had targeted and that’s what brought them to Melbourne, and to Coffey.
The other thing about which Coffey can’t complain is that in racing you’re only ever as good as your next race.
Which didn’t prove such a challenge for him: he fronted Ballarat on Sunday with a full book of rides and promptly took out the first in emphatic style aboard Streetwise, breaking its maiden in commanding style.
DON’T MISS OUR SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH HARRY COFFEY IN FRIDAY’S THE GUARDIAN
