IT was a good Friday last week for Swan Hill trainer Austy Coffey when he took a small team upstream to Echuca – and landed the first race of the day.
When his horse Excel and Fly did exactly that in the charge to the line for the $65,000 Good Friday Appeal Handicap over 1400m, Coffey joked how he had to replace his Caulfield Cup winning son Harry – who rode Lightning Express into third – with Melbourne Cup winning jockey Jye McNeil.
Part of the huge Country Discovery day of racing, which moves home each year, the eight-race card features huge prizemoney for country tracks, including the $500,000 bet365 Country Discovery Handicap – a 1000m scramble for the big bucks.
And Coffey senior was more than happy to kick the day off with an upset win as his 16/1 five-year-old gelding put paid to several fancied chances, including the Hayes trained 3/1 favourite La Pleine Lune.
McNeil got Excel and Fly out of the gates with great position from the extreme inside before settling in fourth on the rail with cover as the favourite took up the running.
As they swung down the side, McNeil stayed glued to the fence but always in close contact with the leaders.
In the straight the horses most likely fanned across the track, momentarily leaving Excel and Fly blocked, but when McNeil spotted a slight glimmer of light between horses he popped the question and speared through.
Hitting the line almost three quarters of a length clear and the favourite stumbling into fourth.
The recent addition to the Coffey team coming from, ironically, the Hayes stables, it made the move to Swan Hill earlier this year, and Friday was the biggest win of its career as it paid a whopping $18.90.
Coffey described the meeting as “a massive day for racing” and said this wasn’t his first go at trying to get a win on Country Discovery day.
“It’s a huge day and such a big thrill to be able to win one as part of it – we went all the way to Geelong last year and just got beaten there,” he said.
“But this year we have gone one better.”
Coffey agreed the day, which has only been running for a few years, provided exceptional opportunities for country trainers and owners.
“When horses get up a little bit in their ratings they are sort of hard to place for us, once they are out of the easier races,” he explained.
“So when you’ve got horses like this bloke you’ve got to take advantage and use these races when they put them on.
“It’s a terrific result today, and they’re a great mob of blokes who own him and he’s a beautiful horse and I really like him.”
Jye McNeil, Harry Coffey’s best mate, was also all smiles post-race – and wasn’t even sure if it wasn’t his first winner for Austy.
But did know he had “been close a few times, so it was great to get the monkey off the back today”.
“We drew really well and Austy said to me to ‘find a bum somewhere’ although he probably didn’t want me to hold onto that bum for as long as I did,” McNeil laughed.
“But once we got a bit of room he sprinted really well with that big weight (62.5kg), which was a great effort today,” he added.
Asked if he was feeling any pressure riding instead of Harry he said it was fine as they are both “fairly casual characters, which makes life easier.”
“But it is always great to ride winners for good friends,” he added.
