SWAN Hill trainers and jockeys went bang at their home track on Sunday, picking up four of the eight races on the card, with doubles to Nathan Hobson and Harry Coffey.
Austy Coffey shared a win with his son and then was part two of a quinella with Hobson.
Locals filled three of the legs in the quadrella as well. But it was the red-and-white livery of the Hobson stable which flew the home flag the highest, taking out the fifth and then the last of the day.
Although the weekend proved a mixed bag for the trainer, he said he nearly melted in the Broken Hill heat at Saturday’s St Pat’s Day cup meeting and then almost got blown off his home track on Sunday.
Atrocious weather also saw the Yarra Valley Cup abandoned after the first race chopped the track to bits after it was hit by 22mm of rain.
In the $27,000 Sun Centre Curtains & Blinds Handicap over 1600m, Hobson reckoned his four-year-old gelding Hydrogen Power was such a likely thing he engaged in-form rider Linda Meech for the trip.
She had previously won seven out of 43 rides for the stable and she earned her money on Sunday when she had to make some snap decision very early on.
Coming from the extreme outside gate, Meech decided not to risk getting lost in the ruck, and on the first turn swept around the field, took the lead and headed for home.
“It was a good call, Linda has been riding heaps of winners lately and that’s why I got her for this race,” Hobson said.
“The horse has been going ok without much luck so when I looked at the field and was able to get Linda I was pretty confident,” he added.
Punters must have agreed. The horse started as the $2.50 favourite and didn’t let anyone down.
Meech, in her first start on the horse, kept bowling along out front and by the time they straightened for the run home it was all over.
Meech was standing high in the irons and easing down at the line, with Coffey & Coffey charging late on Koyuga Breeze for second.
“He had been doing enough at home to show me he was going to be about the mark, although he can be slow at the start, and this win will probably push him into a 64 at his next start, which will probably be back here in April,” Hobson said.
Three races later it was Hobson and Logan McNeil with the lightly-raced Reward The Sheriff in the $27,000 Pooles Accountants over a sharp 975m scramble.
The three-year-old gelding – second up in this prep – had some support in an open affair and came out of the gates at top speed.
Positioned midfield McNeil took the horse down the middle of the straight and looked to have everything under control until Sandrine made a late charge and failed to get there, by a lip.
“Logan has had all the rides on this one for me – except one where he couldn’t make the weight – and after today’s win I reckon he’ll be staying aboard if he’s available,” Hobson said.
“Like Hydrogen Power, this one will also go up in the grades, so weight shouldn’t be an issue for Logan going forward, although I’m not sure where we go next just yet, maybe back here as well, we’ll have to wait and see.
“Once he gets into the clear, he has a nice big action and he was tough to get the win – so I reckon he will be keeping to the shorter sprint distances.”
If you’ve got the favourite in a one-horse race, make sure you get on board for the ride.
And that’s exactly what Swan Hill’s Harry Coffey did for the McEvoy stable at his home track on Sunday when he finished so far in front with the odds-on favourite Charming Nic he was the only horse in the photo of the finish.
Not even the widest angle lens possible would have stretched back the eight lengths to the also-rans.
Coffey had a charmed ride in the $27,000 CAMR Plumbing Plate over 1300m, quickly positioning himself behind the frontrunners and simply staying under cover and biding his time to let rip.
When he did you could understand why the rest of the field seem destined to remain maidens a little longer – it was an astonishingly easy, even embarrassingly easy, victory and set Coffey up for a double on the day.
The second leg was the $27,000 Arentz Electrical Handicap over 2400m when he saddled the seven-year-old country cups specialist Bannerton.
While he has had some good wins with the veteran galloper, in 15 starts it had never picked up a win on its home track – until now.
Settling deep in the field, as they swung into the home straight and ran into light rain and wind, Coffey took Bannerton to the extreme outside and built up a withering run to break the Swan Hill drought by a half-length going away.
And obviously the Coffey stable weren’t the only ones confident, Bannerton was pushed in from $7 to $3.10 favourite ensuring there were even more happy people at the track.
