SWAN Hill jockey Harry Coffey continued his run of success with a winning double, including Bannerton returning to the winning list in the Mildura Motor Holdings Silverado Handicap at the Mildura Racing Club’s meeting on Sunday.
It was a busy weekend for Coffey, who had one ride at Doomben in Brisbane on Saturday for a win in the $1 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic with Arabian Summer.
Coffey also continued his winning association with the Patrick Payne stable of Plumpton when Black Peppermint recorded a smart win, bringing up his first victory at his third career start.
The second leg of Coffey’s winning double was achieved with Bannerton, trained by his father Austy, and after enjoying a good run throughout the six-year-old outsprinted his rivals to record a 1.25-length victory.
Bannerton is owned by long-time supporters of the Coffey stable, Robinvale-based Tony Natale and Charlie Camera, who were thrilled to have their six-year-old return to winning form. His previous win was back in October 2022 when taking out the Manangatang Cup.
Bannerton has been a handy acquisition for Austy Coffey and has taken his consistent record to five wins and 20 placings from 52 starts.
It was a top meeting for Swan Hill-trained horses as Lonely One (Heath Chalmers), Jackie Moon (Nathan Hobson) and The Last Judgement (Helen Burns) all recorded smart wins on the seven race program.
Murray Bridge trainer Sarah Rutten made the long trek worthwhile when Lift The Bar continued her winning form in the bet365 Mildura Cup on July 19 Handicap.
It was the first time Rutten has competed at the Mildura track.
Five-year-old Lift The Bar was sent very wide in the home straight by SA jockey Samuel Payne for an impressive victory and she should continue to go through the classes this season.
The Mildura Racing Club is looking forward to staging the 100th running of the bet365 Mildura Cup on Friday, July19 and all tickets and packages for the day are now available at the country.racing.com/mildura website.
Arabian Summer is trained by the Ballarat partnership of Tony and Calvin McEvoy.
