Harry Coffey Confident on Shockletz for Melbourne Cup

Harry Coffey Confident on Shockletz as Soft Melbourne Cup Track Looms

Mon 2 Nov 2026, 2:35pm AEDT - Sportingbase

Harry Coffey is confident he will ride Shockletz in the Melbourne Cup after surgery on a broken collarbone, while rain is set to leave Flemington in the soft range for the $10 million race.

Coffey, 31, was thrown from Pondalowie in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes on Derby Day and had surgery at Melbourne’s Epworth Hospital on Sunday, Racenet reported via Fox Sports. He still needs final medical clearance before he can keep the ride on the Ciaron Maher-trained mare.

SEN presenter Gareth Hall said on Monday that Coffey expected to be fit. “He’s told me that he’s very confident he’ll be right to go,” Hall said on SENTrack’s Giddy Up, Just Horse Racing reported.

“He says the surgery has worked (and) he has a couple more conversations today with the doctor and his surgeon before giving the all clear, but he’s very positive about the situation.”

Connections happy to wait

Managing owner Laurence Eales said the operation had gone well. “He’s got full movement, feels great, feels the same and all that,” Eales said.

“He’s had a great affiliation with the horse, gone to all the trouble wasting to get down to 51kg,” Eales said. “We have to take care of our owners too, going into the Melbourne Cup, making sure we’ve got a jockey on, who’s 100 per cent, but in saying that, they were all happy to wait and see.”

Michael Dee is understood to be on standby for the ride if Coffey is not cleared. Shockletz jumps from barrier 17 with 51kg and is one of a record seven Maher runners in the 24-horse field, led by favourite Point Of Law from barrier 9.

Rival jockeys have praised Coffey’s effort. “He’s tougher than most of us,” James McDonald told Nine. “Obviously it’s like a grand final for us jockeys, trainers – this is the race that stops the nation, so we’ll get up for anything.”

Soft track expected for Cup day

Flemington was rated a Good 4 on Sunday morning, according to Nine, but track manager Liam O’Keeffe expects Monday rain to push the surface into the soft range.

“Forecast is for around 5mm to 10mm of rainfall on Monday, so that would probably have us in the Soft 5, Soft 6 range,” O’Keeffe said in a VRC track report, Betsy reported. “Clearing showers on Tuesday, and at this stage, it looks a relatively clear afternoon for Cup Day.”

The rail will be out 3m for Cup day. The Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) is race 7 at Flemington on Tuesday 3 November, with the start set for 3pm AEDT. Final scratchings and the official Cup-day track rating are due on Tuesday morning.

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