Racing: Coleman kicks home a bonus

There have been some omen bets lately, but none that approached It's All About Her at Matamata.

Michael Coleman's wife Nerolie gave birth to a daughter, Greer, at 1.15am yesterday and 15 and a half hours later the proud father kicked home It's All About Her to land the local Moroney stable a $22,000 bonus in the last race.

The Colemans and the Moroneys were not the only ones cheering the filly home - someone had an enormous punt on It's All About Her, who paid $2.50 off a career formline of -560.

Adrenalin, a plentiful commodity in horse racing and childbirth, kicked in for Coleman all day.

"I got home around 2.30am and managed to get a couple of hours sleep," he said as he changed in the jockeys' room and headed to Matamata's Pohlen Hospital, leaving members of the Moroney stable at Matamata racecourse to celebrate.

"I had a bit of a sweat before heading to the races and I was fizzing all day with adrenalin."

It showed when he landed Brampton Legs home an easy winner of Race 5 for the Moroneys to lay a platform for a chance at the $22,000 TRAC bonus for producing three winners on the day. Coleman was at it again with Fujisawa in Race 8, taking an inside gap to drive the mare to a comfortable victory.

Only one race remained for the Moroneys and the 1400m, even though she was fresh from a four-month break, looked a shade short for It's All About Her, who in three starts had not raced at a distance less than 1600m. At Ellerslie on December 28 she had been still running on at the finish of 2100m.

Coleman got her over the line and it was very noticeable he delayed his understandable excited flourish with his whip until the required one stride beyond the finish line.

"I've got nappies to buy, I haven't got an extra $300 to give the stipes," joked Coleman.

Co-trainer Paul Moroney would have found it for him. He was being shouted by the committee of the Matamata Racing Club when the Herald tracked him down.

"You'd have thought they'd have been wanting me to shout them," said Moroney. "We've just relieved them of $22,000."

It might not have looked that way, but Moroney said the bonus was not the single focus for the day.

"To be honest, I thought the stable might have won it at the recent Rotorua meeting. We had a lot of fresh-up runners that day, but things didn't fall into place.

"Two of those three winners were fresh runners [Fujisawa and It's All About Her] and they're young horses we think have the potential to go through. We've had four 3-year-olds that have won fresh at 1400m in the last month or so and we're proud of that.

"We're more proud of producing winners, rather than winning the bonus, but it's a great fillip for the stable and particularly the staff who can grab a bonus and go forward with their heads up."

Moroney said it was not his money that jammed It's All About Her into hot favouritism.

"I thought she'd win and I went to the races prepared to back her. I backed the first two, but I wouldn't take the short odds on her. She was paying $2.30 at one point - I thought that was way under the odds she should have been at.

"I'd say it was someone attached to the stable, although I don't know who, and I'd say it was an all-up bet."