The Apple Pay mishap that saved Coffey’s Cup ride

Harry Coffey’s Melbourne Cup lead-up was touch and go after a race fall at Flemington on Derby Day.

Coffey sustained a fractured collarbone when his mount Pondalowie went down in the Group 1 Empire Rose last Saturday.

The tough-as-nails jockey was booked to ride strong local hope Shockletz in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup... but he had to undergo surgery first.

Initially Coffey was told he wouldn’t go under the knife until today (Wednesday), after the Cup, meaning he’d have to give up his plum ride.

But there was a chain of events, which included a declined Apple Pay transaction, which allowed Coffey to ride Shockletz into sixth for star trainer Ciaron Maher in the Cup.

Trainer Calvin McEvoy, who Coffey rides for regularly, provided fascinating details which added to the already remarkable story.

“Obviously everyone knows Harry Coffey broke his collarbone and had surgery,” McEvoy said on SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.

“He rang me a couple of days ago and he said, ‘You wouldn’t believe what’s happened. Sunday morning I’m laying in a hospital bed waiting to talk to the surgeon. He comes in and says we’re going to do the surgery Wednesday at lunch time’.

“Harry is all down in the dumps saying, ‘Right, the Melbourne Cup is gone’. So, he wanders down to the cafeteria at the hospital and he was keen to have a big ham and cheese toastie, coffee and a muffin.

“The horse has got 51kg and he (Coffey) is not having surgery (until after the race). Everyone knows you’re not allowed to eat before surgery with the anaesthetic. He didn’t have his wallet because that was still at the racecourse. He ordered his food and went to pay with his Apple Pay, and it was declined.”

It was after this serendipitous fiscal refusal that things started to turn for Coffey who has dealt with his fair share of bad luck.

“He thought, ‘S--t, I’m going to miss the Melbourne Cup, and I’m broke’. He wanders back up to the hospital bed and he’s laying there, a bit down in the dumps,” McEvoy continued.

“He gets a phone call 15 minutes later from the surgeon saying, ‘Have you eaten yet?’. Harry said, ‘No’. The surgeon said, ‘Surgery at lunch time and you’ll be right on Tuesday’.

“Had his Apple Pay worked, he would have eaten, wouldn’t have been able to have the surgery, and would’ve missed the Cup.

“Credit to Harry. I know he ran sixth, it was still a great run. For him to do what he did and just the mental drain of the last three days, good on him.”

Coffey, who continues to battle cystic fibrosis, said

“He told me that riding in the Melbourne Cup was enough of a painkiller, the adrenaline had taken over,” McEvoy said further.

“He gave the horse a great ride, she finished off well into sixth.”

The Melbourne Cup prize money for finishing sixth is $160,000, and Coffey is due at the very least 5% of that tally meaning he would’ve pocketed $8,000, plus the $274 flat riding fee.

Perhaps he was given more of a ‘sling’ from the owners given what he went through just to sit aboard Shockletz.