Coffey had already racked up four winners on the day – with jockey Dean Yendall on three of them (he also picked up his own fourth on Sweet Venom) – and was gunning for five with Tiny Rebel in the last.
Then it all fell apart as the horses started going into the barrier.
Coffey’s well-backed Tiny Rebel suddenly burst through its gate, seeming to jag its head on the barrier; prompting Ardeeo in the next gate to also crash through the gate.
Both horses took off down the track like cut cats and were duly scratched – Coffey’s stables are close to the finish line and that’s where the course caller reckoned the three-year-old gelding was headed.
But the drama wasn’t over.
The horses were reloaded and just before they jumped Lake’s Rose of Capri decided it too would be a good idea to also break through the gates.
Unlike Tiny Rebel and Ardeeo; apprentice hoop Logan McNeil stayed in control of the Rose, and she hardly got through the gate than he was pulling her up.
A quick vet check and she was back in her chute.
Finally, five minutes late, the depleted field jumped cleanly and the race was on to win the $20,000 bet365 Swan Hill Cup 7th June 2020 over 1200m.
Lake said he knew a couple of the other horses – Wasabi and South Detroit in particular – and he had instructed McNeil to sit just off the pace and see how things panned out.
“He rode her well, she ran well and pulled up well, and she is such a good little horse who I think will be able to go a little bit further at her next start,” Lake said.
“And yes, I had a little bit on her as well,” he grinned.
But even Lake must have been concerned when it appeared certain his horse had run its race and the two pacesetters settled down to fight it out.
However, Logan McNeil seemed to have no doubts and with some very enthusiastic riding he pushed Rose of Capri to the line to win by a short half head.
A win that also gave McNeil a double as he was on Coffey’s Malauka in the seventh for the first leg.
“If she hadn’t been balloted out of Echuca the other day I reckon I might have had a double of my own there,” Lake said.
The veteran trainer – he turns 78 in August – only has two horses in work. He owns Rose of Capri and trains Honorellay for its owners and is already planning their next outing.
With a dose of longer-term strategy for Honorellay.
“He will be going to Bendigo at the weekend – there’s a BM64 over 1100m and a 78 over 1000. That one might be above her weight but it would be a good test,” Lake said.
A test the four-year-old gelding might need because Lake has his eyes set on the $100,000 Gold Topaz – back at Swan Hill – in early June.
“If he goes well at Bendigo on Sunday his next start after that might be Flemington on a Saturday – that will be tough as well but if he can win or place that will just about guarantee him a start in the Topaz,” he added.
Monday’s win took Rose of Capri to five wins and 10 placings from 37 starts – and through the $100,000 – and Lake said there were two people he would like to acknowledge for their hard work with both his horses on the training track.
“Darcy Murray and Rhys Archard do some really good work for me and are always giving me a bit of stick for not giving them any credit; so boys, here it is – and don’t be late tomorrow.”
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