HOW do you turn a $37,500 race into a $120,000 purse for the winner?
Simple.
You give Swan Hill turf magician Harry Coffey the ride on Heat Missile and point them both to the finish line.
Which is exactly what the Griffiths-De Kock stable did in the Wyndham City Council Maiden Plate over 1100m at Sunday’s Werribee Cup meeting.
The horse, a $200,000 buy at the Inglis yearling sales, had missed a debut win at Geelong on November 17 with Zac Spain in the saddle.
And punters were so sure Sunday’s combination was a winning one, Heat Missile was sent out a red-hot, odds-on favourite – and delivered.
It earned the filly’s owners a $100,000 Inglis Xtra Bonus Series cheque as an incentive from the selling agents – one of 50 it spreads across the industry every year.
When the field jumped, Coffey worked hard and quickly to stay close to the pointy end of the field and not risk being held up for a run when the moment came.
He cantered up to the pacesetting Zouandme as they approached the bend and once they had navigated the turn Coffey asked the filly to take charge.
And she did, although initially not all that convincingly, but when the plunge horse All The Way Baby set up for a challenge, Heat Missile suddenly launched, and it was all over.
She would finish 1.5 lengths clear of the pack and gave every indication that with a bit of experience the two-start three-year-old might become something very quick and very special.
“It was a good win actually, and she did it without going too quickly, as she had to absorb a lot of pressure early,” Coffey said.
“Linda Meech, on All The Way Baby, just didn’t give up her early spot easily and made Jordi Childs (Zouandme) and me work hard to cross them.
“Obviously that was a good plan for them, to try and soften us up because we were going to be pretty hard to beat.
“And my filly absorbed that, and kicked off from that, and was strong through the line, so it was a very nice win.”
Coffey said the run was probably the easiest part of the race and the filly got into such a nice galloping rhythm.
He said he thinks she is a natural horse that is good at galloping – but everywhere else she’s got a bit of anxiety and is a bit worried.
“There were a lot of people here for Werribee Cup, and she was just a little bit worried about it all,” Coffey added.
“But she will learn a lot from it, and just needs to chill out a little bit more and enjoy herself a little bit more and then race day will be a lot nicer for her.”
At Wangaratta on Saturday Swan Hill trainers Nathan Hobson and Austy Coffey got the ball rolling for the weekend by taking out races five and six.
Hobson started the streak with one of the many Sheriffs in his stable – this time it was six-year-old gelding Don’t Tell Sheriff taking out the $20,000 Bi-rite Electrical Wangaratta over 1300m.
Which was no surprise to his trainer.
He says the horse had been “knocking on the door” for several starts and had been “very honest” in his most recent outings.
Although because of the BM52 ballot system, Don’t Tell Sheriff had to sneak into the field as an emergency.
But from there didn’t put a foot wrong to hang onto the win – by a nose.
“He had the form – he’d run second in the Balranald Cup six weeks ago, followed that up with thirds in Broken Hill and Swan Hill and now he’s back in the winner’s circle,” Hobson explained.
“Logan McNeil, who I think is a very underrated jockey, has been going well and did a great job on him for us,” he said.
“Don’t Tell Sheriff will probably go to Echuca’s New Year’s Eve meeting after which our stables will be taking a 20-day break so everyone can have a good rest and recharge because my whole team has been working so hard and done such a fantastic job this year.”
In the next race, Austy Coffey’s Olivia’s Scandal justified the pre-race punting assessment by literally running away with the $20,000 Insite Real Estate Handicap over 1300m.
And with the day’s hottest jockey in the saddle – Will Gordon had won races one and two – it couldn’t have gone better of Coffey had scripted the outcome himself.
His five-year-old mare now has two wins and five placings from her 18 career starts.
