HE might have a Caulfield Cup in his trophy cupboard – along with a swag of country cups big and small – and there’s plenty more he would like to add to the collection, such as the Melbourne Cup.
But there is one country cup Swan Hill’s superstar jockey Harry Coffey hasn’t managed to pull off yet – and he would dearly love to have it.
That would be the bet365 Swan Hill Cup, which will be run this Sunday.
Not, mind you, for lack of trying.
So depending on the rides he and his manager come up with between now and then, Coffey admits he would love to have another crack.
Juggling around doing everything he can to fit in rides on his father Austy’s horses for the long weekend as well.
“Yeah, I would love a Swan Hill cup, but there’s plenty of others I would love as well,” the talented hoop grinned.
“It will certainly be good to ride some of dad’s horses at the carnival, I know he said he might not be able to get his hands on me, but I still do a lot of trackwork with him and know all his horses really well so if I am able I’ll be delighted to jump on a few for him.”
Coffey still have two months to run on a career defining season.
A professional jockey since 2011, the 29-year-old has averaged $2.9 million in prizemoney each year – although that figure is skewed by his time as an apprentice and then the hard years on bush tracks convincing the big stables he was a good bet.
In the 2023/24 season, Coffey boosted his year’s total to $6.189 million.
This season – and still with those eight weeks of racing to go – he has already hit $8.393 million and counting.
Which just goes to show what a seriously big Group 1 – such as the 2024 Caulfield Cup with Duke De Sessa – can do for you.
For 2023/24, Coffey racked up 90 winners and at the time of writing had hit 78 and counting.
And for Coffey, Caulfield itself has become something of a highlight this season; only a few months ago he was back there with just four rides booked for the day (including the Duke), and promptly won all four on Orr Stakes day.
It was a day when realistically, only one of his four rides would have been considered the horse most likely – the boom three-year-old Arabian Summer (which was the last of his four rides).
His other three, including his Caulfield Cup winner Duke De Sessa were all long shots given very little hope of running a place, let alone winning the race.
Before Saturday, the closest Coffey had come to perfection was the Wycheproof Cup meeting in 2016 when he rode six of the seven winners on the day (and finished second in the one he missed).
But that’s as bush a meeting as you can get. Going four for four in town puts you in a different stratosphere.
And his unimaginable, unthinkable day began in the first race, with the Freedman trained, and aptly named, Unthinkable. After that it was Garachio in the $150,000 BD Hoof Hustle Handicap and then the Duke, before Arabian Summer did what everyone expected and also won.
Once Coffey has his rides set for Swan Hill, look out.
