WHAT do you do with a horse called Whatdoya Mean?
Well, you put blinkers on him, drive three hours (and a bit) to Ballarat, put him in a 1000m race instead of 1200m, watch a betting plunge push him in from well north of 20/1 to almost 10/1 – and then win.
Which is exactly what happened when the Heath Chalmers trained four-year-old gelding dramatically reversed his recent form to runaway win in the $27,000 McGrath Ballarat Plate on Tuesday.
Which started an avalanche of Swan Hill success on the synthetic track as jockey Harry Coffey proceeded to win the next two races as well.
Then Coffey kept the local show on the boil when he arrived at Sandown Hillside on Wednesday and proceeded to also win the 50,000 Senet Gambling Law Experts over 2400m.
When Whatdoya Mean jumped, rider Neil Farley very quickly used his early gate speed to slot into some cover behind the pacemakers and let them do all the work on a typically frigid Ballarat winter’s day.
Then with plenty of room down the centre of the track Whatdoya Mean put on an explosive finish and said “whaddya think of that”?
A delighted Chalmers speaking post-race seemed one of the least surprised people at the track when his horse – which paid $11.10 – got up.
“He’s been doing enough at home, although at Swan Hill (during the long weekend carnival) I don’t know what went wrong, he just threw up the flag and ran out of puff and was a bit weak late,” the laconic trainer said.
“But today we put the blinkers back on him and he was full of running.
“He’s probably an out-and-out 1000m horse, he can’t get much further.
“My wife owns the majority of him so it can’t get much better than this,” he added.
“There’s a couple of owners here I told that he might go pretty well today – and said if he doesn’t, he’s probably not worth having.
“So yes, he was pretty good today, so now we will probably see how he pulls up and he might bang around again before the end of the month, but we will just see what he does.
“Neil rides a lot of jump outs for me at Bendigo and rode a winner for me at Swan Hill during the carnival so I reckon we will stick with him for a bit longer too.”
Farley said he agreed today was a good victory because he has had his doubts about this horse, and how genuine he really was.
But today, back to the 1000m, with blinkers on and a good, genuine tempo, he was able to track into the race.
“And this was probably the most honest he has felt, he really put his head down and tried, so the synthetic track might be the key to him,” he said.
“The rating was perfect for him today, good genuine speed and we were able to tuck in behind.
“I was just a little bit worried when the favourite snuck through, but full credit to this horse and Heath because he placed him well today.”
Coffey’s day had started slowly.
His ride in the opening event on the card was scratched, his longshot in the second justified its odds, he had nothing in the race won by Chalmers and then came out on fire in the fourth – the $27,000 Porter Plant Handicap over 1000m with the heavily backed favourite Pick ‘N’ Mix.
Having its first run since January – the three-year-old had two wins and a strong third in its first three career starts – the McEvoy trained filly was almost down to even money by the time the field jumped.
As the pundits noted in the mounting yard, it is far from being the most attractive racehorse in Australia but has been blessed with a serious motor.
Coming from the extreme outside of the eight-horse field Coffey wasted no time working his charge into fourth, with room to move and a clear view of Tochka, which had exploded to a three or four length lead turning into the last bend.
But Coffey simply stalked the leader down the straight and when he drew level it was as though Tochka had run into a brick wall, with Pick ‘N’ Mix a comfortable one length winner from The Showvinist, making its run way too late.
Coffey, rated something of a synthetic specialist, said he was fortunate to get a lot of nice rides at Ballarat and land the occasional winner to “keep my confidence up”.
He described Pick ‘N’ Mix as a “very nice filly with an impressive little record” and said the only time she had let anyone down was when he flew from Queensland to Mornington to ride her and she put in an ordinary run.
“She had wins either side of that with different riders and I thought to myself that maybe I was the issue,” Coffey said.
“So it was nice to get on her today and get a win, to reassure her and me that we are still good friends.”
Thirty minutes later Coffey was back in the mounting yard for the $27,000 Hygain Winners Choice Handicap over 1100m, this time with a Freedman runner – this time I Am Piki, another three-year-old filly but not with the same form as Pick ‘N’ Mix.
And another red-hot favourite.
No back-to-back pressure there Harry – on top of which this time the Swan Hill spirit was a little stronger as Heath Chalmers and Neil Farley were also in the running with Lacemaker, first up from a spell.
This time Coffey wasn’t interested in playing catch up.
He was out of the gate fast and very quickly worked his way into the lead, setting a brisk pace with Innocent Enuff, ridden by Rayn Houston, glued to his flank.
As they straightened the pair pulled away and looked ready to duke it out down the straight until I Am Piki simply picked it up a notch or two and ran right away.
Two three-year-old fillies, two favourites, two wins.
Not too bad a day really.
Coffey said I Am Piki was a consistent and fast horse – it’s only been outside the placings twice in its eight starts – adding it was well placed today.
“She was sort of having had enough on the line, but she was carrying a big weight (61kg) and I did set her a big enough assignment early,” he said.
“I let her stride out and she had to do a bit of work to cross them and although I then tried to give her a bit of an easy time she is quite competitive.
“So she continued to roll along, and I must admit at the turn I thought something must be coming, but she had broken them up enough that it was too tough to catch her.”
On Wednesday at Sandown, Coffey swapped sprint for serious distance in the 2400m race he took out there.
Riding the fancied Jennivamoose in a very open betting affair, Coffey found a good spot early on to put the five-year-old mare to sleep and just bowl along and by the time the field reached the back straight the speed had dropped almost to walk.
Giving Coffey and Jennivamoose the chance to ease into third before the other short-priced runners Bluestone and Trapalanda started making their moves.
As they swung into the straight Coffey suddenly found himself cornered before slipping across the hindquarters of the two pacemakers and finding a gap one off the fence.
He surged through and the race was over. Bluestone and Trapalanda made a great show of giving chase, but it was all an act, and with ears pricked and clearly plenty in reserve, Jennivamoose hit the line full of running.
The lightly raced mare had her first start in 14 months with a third on the same track in late May before racking up the third win in her 11 race career.
A win in which Coffey said Jennivamoose had travelled really well.
“We didn’t want to be in a rush early, and wanted to conserve energy, and she got into a beautiful rhythm,” he said.
“We sort of had horses all around us that were going to run races so I knew if we just followed them they would take us where we needed to go.
“But as the race eventuated there was some tactical rides taking place, and they got up and around us.
“I didn’t panic, and would like to have come out, and showed that by rolling off and trying to get on Realika’s back but that didn’t happen how I wanted so I was able to dart back in.
“The fact she was travelling so well allowed me to track back through the inferior ground and then find myself finishing in the better going late.”
