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Hot Coffey
SWAN Hill trainer Austy Coffey continued his stellar form on his home track, taking out a quartet of wins across Monday's nine-race meeting.
"I was happy to just get the first win because the monkey is off your back, but to win four was great for the stables and the owners," Coffey said.
"Our horses are simply ready to go now after a period where these horses were too young, we'd run out of good young horses and had nothing in the middle.
"It's always the case for trainers as we'll have busy and quiet times from season to season.
"But the results are a credit to my staff who work tirelessly and are that good at their jobs, all I have to do is hand out tasks and the rest gets done."
Only 16 days after securing a treble at the Swan Hill Racecourse, Coffey picked up where he left off with victory in race 1's $20,700 bet365 Top Tote Plus 3YO Maiden Plate (1200m).
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained Miss Tenthousand ($3.30) was the favourite for the race, but struggled to find space down the straight while Coffey's Further In had no such issue.
The first-up filly hooked out down the straight from mid-pack to pinch the lead entering the final strides towards the post, claiming a half-length victory over the favourite.
Wu Darl was Coffey's most convincing winner in race 4's bet365 Odds Drift Protector Maiden Plate (1600m).
In her seventh start, the filly charged home in the last 200m to claim a comfortable 1.5 length win.
A nail-biting finish in race 7's $20,000 Pooles Accountants BM58 Handicap (975m) secured Coffey a quinella.
Poppy's Orse bolted down the straight early in an effort to make up for a poor start, but Malauka charged in the last 200m and managed to hold onto a short head victory.
Coffey's fourth win came in race 8's $20,000 Kubota Swan Hill BM58 Handicap (1200m), with Top Fred securing the win from Nathan Hobson-trained Peddler by half a length.
Peddler led from the start of the race, but could not hold on as Coffey's four-year-old gelding stole victory in the final strides to claim back-to-back wins after a 14-week spell.
"Top Fred was probably the best performed because of the way he buckled down and made up ground to claim victory," Coffey said.
"He is a horse that will probably be better suited to slightly longer distance races as well, so it was an excellent performance.
"But all the horses in the stable went good and raced like they'd win another race."
Three of Coffey's four winners were ridden by jockey Dean Yendall, who went on to claim a quartet of his own.
Coffey's usual go-to jockey and son, Harry, is still not racing due to his cystic fibrosis health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coffey admitted the absence of his son put a dampener on the wins, but said Harry is still getting a lot of thrills out of the victories.
"He's doing most of the work on them at home," Coffey said.
"He's been a part of picking them out as yearlings, worked with them all the way through and even tells the riding jockeys how to ride them."
Swan Hill apprentice jockey Madison Lloyd denied Coffey a fifth win, with victory on Mark Pegus' Open Hatch in the $20,000 The Bottle O Swan Hill BM58 Handicap (1600m).
Lloyd made a late charge and overcame runner-up Sinamay by a short head and Coffey's third-placed Nova Way by a neck.
But the prizemoney still continued to roll in for Coffey as Total Craft also secured a third placing (2L) in the $20,700 Busbiz.net.au Maiden Plate (1300m).
The final race of the day — $20,000 bet365 Swan Hill Cup 7th June 2020 BM58 Handicap (1200m) — saw Lloyd secure a second aboard Jane Duncan-trained Wasabi.
The favourite was pipped by a short head on the final stride by Rose of Capri while Heath Chalmers trained South Detroit finished third.
Many of our local trainers are now turning their attention to tomorrow's race meeting at Warracknabeal.

The Guardian

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