YOU can understand why Harry Coffey might be slightly smitten with a horse called Cupid’s Conquest.
Because together they conquered the $27,000 Harvey Norman Ararat Plate over 2200m and a three-way duel in the shadow of the post.
Coffey and Cupid were busy getting past a surging Evamos on the rail and holding off a late-charging Brydan coming down the outside.
You didn’t need a blanket to cover them as they hit the line, a pillowcase would have done the trick.
But Coffey had held on to claim the prize and take his season total to 51 wins just past the halfway mark, putting him one outside the top 10 in the jockey’s overall premiership – and with a whopping $6.34 million in prizemoney.
Making the Ararat win even better, it was the Danny O’Brien-trained three-year-old filly’s first start over the distance, and with blinkers, and after two unplaced runs in her short racing career – her first win.
Stable representative James Hicks was full of praise for Coffey’s ride, as well.
Hicks said it was good to see the horse push her way out and attack the line – especially after her two previous runs.
“They went kind of slow, and when that horse came around the outside (in the straight) it kind of put her in a pocket and Harry did really well to sum up the race and the horse did well to push her way through the gap,” Hicks said.
Speaking post-race on a hot day of racing, Coffey conceded the weather was having an impact.
He added it was a slow ‘muddly’ race but “we had Frysie (Jarrod Fry on Evamos) out front doing what he does best – dictating the pace and trying to confuse everyone.”
“I was following him and got off his back – and then there was no room,” Coffey said.
“So then I had to go back down, and then a run presented, but it wasn’t there for long so my filly had to breathe in, and so did I, and talking about hot, it felt a little bit hot and heated there but she burst through and got the job done.”
“And I was actually surprised with the fight she showed at the end because she pulled pretty hard throughout, and it’s hard for horses to over-race and then continue to finish off their race.
“But she did, and she took a bit of pulling up as well.”
