FORGET the name Harry when it comes to racing, Swan Hill’s star jockey is fast becoming known as Caulfield Coffey after he racked up another double on his favourite metropolitan track at the weekend.
This season, nine of his 16 metro winners have come there – including the Caulfield Cup – and at the weekend Coffey picked up the $80,000 Noel Rundle Handicap and the $150,000 Evergreen Turf Geoff Murphy Handicap to keep his hot streak sizzling.
First up was the McEvoy trained Heart of Glass – sent out a very warm favourite with punters – which gave Coffey a spectacular chance of how to overcome all the odds to win a race when everyone was expecting exactly that.
With the mare known as a bit of a chancy starter, Coffey kept the four-year-old busy behind the barrier to try and distract her and get her to begin a little better and jump a little cleaner – and have less work to do.
Which didn’t exactly go to plan in a race where it was expected they might be a lot closer to the pace early on, allowing for the coming headwind in the home straight.
Heart of Glass landed midfield and was quickly shuffled back to the last two or three and coming around the corner she was still third last, which saw Coffey head for the middle of the track to get around the rest.
Once she got down to work she made a winning break, but the extra ground covered appeared to be catching up with her faster than the post was coming, before Heart of Glass flopped over the line to deny the flying Prancing Spirit.
McEvoy representative Rayan Moore felt she did not handle the bend all that well and had to make a bit of a long run, and “just wobbled” into the straight.
But said her form this prep almost certainly meant she would be likely to head to Adelaide for some stakes races, initially over 1200m but she can go out to the mile.
Coffey agreed the horse’s less than perfect start – again – was something to watch going forward.
“It’s not a bad habit, but she’s just wanting to relax and go to sleep, and there’s nothing wrong with that if you have the turn of foot to get out of trouble – and she has,” Coffey explained.
“But you do have to have a certain demeanour about you in a race when you are riding horses that should be winning but aren’t really travelling all that well.
“So we had to get stuck into her, especially around the bend, where there was an opportunity to get rolling and get the march on our rivals and she did that and then she found enough to have the turn of foot to go away from them.
“She doesn’t turn that well, I think because she is so big and powerful, so you have to guide her around and then let her speed happen, and even though her form is good at Caulfield she does have a little bit of trouble cornering here, so it’s just a matter of knowing her and keeping her balanced.
“And if she does to go to Adelaide I think the big track at Morphettville will really suit her.”
In the seventh of the day, Coffey saddled the undefeated Soft Love for Matt Laurie in a race for three-year-old fillies.
Soft Love won her debut at Kyneton in November last year before being turned out for 18 weeks and then bounced into her second prep with a fighting win at Bendigo on March 18 – with Coffey at the controls.
Caulfield was always going to be a much bigger ask but the filly has potential written all over her.
The combination of potential class and Coffey certainly got the attention of punters, with Soft Love very quickly coming in from $15 and longer to jump at $9.50.
For variety Coffey and his ride finished up at the very back of the field after they jumped, with the favourite Thames just outside him and half a length ahead.
As they turned for home Thames turned on the afterburners and whipped around the field – while Coffey found a split and a shortcut to tack on behind her.
Thames grabbed the leaders in a few strides but while her jockey Daniel Stackhouse looked left as he went by, on the outside Coffey pulled the trigger on Soft Love and blew them all away, winning by almost two lengths with an explosive last 50m.
Making it a perfect three from three for horse and rider – here’s a partnership which looks as though it might be going places.
Coffey speaking post-race agreed Soft Love is taking some giant strides in the business.
“Everything she does at the moment (is giant strides) and not only is she doing it, she is handling it with a lot of ease,” he added.
“It certainly helps when the whole team is on fire – both Matt Laurie and Yulong, the owners.
“She’s really exciting to ride because you are able to do it in a manner which is quiet and relaxed, backing that her turn of foot will get you out of any trouble, although I must admit probably about the 600m I thought it could get a little tricky – and also mathematically hard.”
But with a big grin he said “she proved me wrong and won soft – so very exciting.”
He said the mathematics came in with the early tempo, when the leaders backed the pace off a bit and had a rest.
“And Daniel Stackhouse (on Thames) was babysitting me, and I think he was trying to owe me one from earlier in the day (the pair shared the quinella in race two),” Coffey added.
“Then when we were pulling up he said ‘stuff it, how did you get out of that little pocket?’
“To which I said it helps when your horse is a little faster.”
