HARRY Coffey rode a treble at the weekend – and stamped himself as the million-dollar minute-man at the same time.
But it took him two days, 3000km in planes, another 1130km in cars (not including Brisbane taxis), about 16 hours and 30 minutes sitting in planes or driving his car (not including Brisbane taxis), and at least another six hours sitting at racetracks or on horses.
That’s – if my arithmetic is half decent – a total of 22 hours and 30 minutes Coffey was on the job in the 48 hours between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday.
And somewhere in all that he also has a life. And maybe some sleep.
So with all those hours and kilometres, why the minute-man?
Simple.
It too him barely 60 seconds – over 1050m – to steer two-year-old sensation Arabian Summer to victory in the inaugural $1m Magic Millions National 2-y-o Classic at Doomben in Queensland on Saturday.
That’s about $1000 per metre raced.
All he had to do was travel more than 1500km for a hit-and-run visit to the Doomben Cup meeting on Saturday.
Then hop on another plane, fly 1500km south, drive back to Swan Hill and get ready for Mildura on Sunday.
One plane trip, one ride, one win, $1 million – a perfect day out.
Then on Sunday the very hot Coffey show rolled into Mildura, where he promptly went from winning million-dollar Magic Millions to snaring a couple of $27,000 events (including one for trainer dad Austy).
Arabian Summer, which now has three wins and two placings from six starts, all with Coffey in the saddle, is also only a few dollars shy of being a $1 million horse itself in prizemoney.
The filly was first up from a 20-week spell and despite starting at an amazingly generous 12/1, Coffey himself said he was always confident.
Especially on the soft Queensland track.
The McEvoy-trained daughter of Too Darn Hot is now almost certain to return to its Ballarat home stables in the near future – with something such as the Lightning Stakes in Adelaide a likely target towards the end of the winter season.
Her recent Brisbane trial saw her plot a similar course down the Doomben straight, and with that under her belt the team was happy to see her race wide on Saturday if need be.
“The track was a little bit tired that day and Dad was up – he went and walked it,” McEvoy said.
“That was the game plan.
“She’s been tested on this sort of ground before.”
Coffey agreed with this analysis, and with Arabian Summer having scored on a similarly soft track back on Ballarat Cup Day, he was very upbeat going in.
“Awesome effort. Before I came out and got on her, I said to the owners, ‘I don’t think we’ll panic about this track’,” he said.
“She raced well on a similar surface at Ballarat and those cold winters in Ballarat got her used to this track today.
“She didn’t have the easiest of runs.
“I was a bit exposed wide out but I got a nice cart around the bend following Embassy.
“He took us to a nice part of the track and she let down well.”
Coffey said he thought they were going to win easily until “one ducked up inside us”.
He said he thought Arabian Summer was doing enough once she took the lead.
“She didn’t hesitate to go forward and moved away quickly with her professionalism and big heart but with this, the first run for the prep, it was that heart which got her over the line.
“It is pretty awesome to be associated with her.
“I’m really thankful to the connections and also Tony and Calvin for having faith in me and getting me up here to partner her.”
