Oaks Winner for So You Think

Globe-trotting superstar So You Think added a fourth Group I winner to his tally as a sire when the Darren Weir trained filly Sopressa (3f So You Think x Hidden Strings, by Weasel Clause) scored a determined neck win in the $500,000 Group I SAJC Australasian Oaks at Morphettville on Saturday.

A maiden winner at Kyneton just three starts ago, Sopressa announced herself as a serious player when scoring a resounding four length win in the Group III SAJC Laelia Stakes two weeks ago.

Pitted against stronger opposition in the Oaks and stepped out to 2000 metres, Sopressa rose to the challenge to claim a popular win for Harry Coffey, who suffers from cystic fibrosis.

“It’s amazing and I’m speechless,” Coffey said after the race.

“He (Weir) has probably wondered at stages if I would be able to deliver on the day with what I’ve been through because I can remember him visiting me in hospital when I was a little kid.

“My family would be so proud.”
Weir was thrilled to prepare Coffey’s first Group I winner.

“I guess it’s a dream come true for Harry and also for myself to be able to give Harry his first Group I winner," Weir said.

“The Coffey family has been unbelievable to me all the way through my career. That’s how I got into horses, through Harry’s old man (Austy Coffey).

“I’ve known Harry ever since he was born, and I’ve followed his career and his illness as well. It’s an amazing story.”

A $70,000 Inglis Great Southern Weanling purchase for Dowling Park from the Bucklee Farm draft, Sopressa runs for a big group of owners and has three wins and four placings from 10 starts with prizemoney in excess of $430,000.

Bred by Cathy Webb and Ken Dean, Sopressa is the fifth winner from Group II winning Weasel Clause mare Hidden Strings, who was covered last season by Scat Daddy’s brilliant son No Nay Never (USA).

Sopressa is the fourth Group I winner for So You Think, joining D’Argento, Inference and La Bella Diosa. The dual Cox Plate winner stands this spring at a fee of $44,000.