A Model Of Consistency

As the evergreen Coco Model skipped her way into the 2024 Ladbrokes Richmond Oaks final, co-owner Greg Corless couldn’t help but think divine intervention was at play.

The 69-year-old leaning on his trademark sense of humour to describe the feat, just six weeks after he collapsed at Wentworth Park and his heart stopped beating for 14 minutes.

“I was heading down into the darkness that night and someone up there said Carlton [Blues] and CANTERBURY [Bulldogs] were going to win the comp and Coco [Model] was going to win a group race so you better head back up,” Corless laughed.

The PENRITH local eternally thankful for the desperate CPR efforts of Greyhound Welfare & Integrity (GWIC) stewards Emma Mackenzie and Martin Wright that saved his life that night.

“I’ve seen them both since and have struggled for words…if it happened at home, I was gone so I’m very grateful to still be here. And I’d love to give them a gift but apparently that’s not allowed so I hope Emma and Martin get good recognition,” he added.

Greg also grateful he and son Tayt, who owns the other half of Coco Model, have another chance to claim a feature final with their kennel star after she ran a game second to the Jay Opetaia-prepared In The Sky in last week's preliminaries.

“We thought we’d have one last crack at a group race in the Oaks and if she didn’t get through, we planned to throw her in a Masters race on her fourth birthday this Wednesday. But we might put that plan off and stick her in a $50,000 race instead,” Corless said tongue-cheek.

“We’re pretty thrilled about it because we almost pulled the pin on her when she broke a toe late last year. We thought she was about to go on season and we’d breed with her. But that didn’t happen so we decided to put her back over the shorts and it was actually that fateful night at Wentworth Park that we returned to the races.”

Corless still very hazy about the events of January 12, apart from the impressive nature of Coco Model’s win.

“I felt really tired on the way to the boxes, but I whacked her in, she pinged out and won easily. As I was walking back to the catching pen, I felt a bit dizzy, I could hear Tony Pagano congratulating me and then apparently, I latched onto the fence behind me and just went down. You’d think my heart would stop in a photo finish, not winning by six lengths,” he said.

“Then all I remember is waking up in the back of the ambulance a couple of minutes away from the RPA hospital. They asked my name and I said, “I know my name”. Then they asked if I knew where I was and all I said back to them was “what time did Coco run?”.”

“Turns out I had a cardiac arrest. I’ve got a machine in there now which they tell me is like a defibrillator with three wires and 800 volts in it. Apparently if my heart stops, one of the wires tells the other two and they jumpstart it back to the normal.”

Tayt Corless admitting Coco Model’s recent performances have been a welcome distraction for the family after “a pretty hectic” start to 2024.

“It’s actually been normal except my dad died and came back to life, I proposed to my girlfriend Grace, I got COVID and now we’re in a Group final,” Tayt added with a laugh.

“I was in America when dad went down and it was early in the morning when I eventually woke up to one of the phone calls telling me something had happened. No one could me if he was still alive which was pretty stressful, but I finally got hold of RPA and they put me straight through to him.”

“I couldn’t get back home because there were no flights out of Washington DC and I was planning on driving to New York that day to propose to Grace so dad said I should just stay there. I waited a few days for things to settle down but the whole thing kept making me think anything can happen, so I just had to do it and thankfully she said yes.”

“I’m also lucky my sister and her partner stepped in and looked after the dogs. Minnie Finn took Coco home. Andrew Bell, Scott Morgan, Nick Kilner, they all did their part and although you never want to see something like this happen to anyone, it was great to see so many people put their hands up to help.”

“I wasn’t thinking much about the Oaks with everything happening, but Jeff Collerson brought it up when she beat Comet A Cost at Wenty at the start of the month. It made us think we could have a crack at it, and we knew she was fit, healthy and loves racing so why not?”

The Corless boys eager to make their mark in Friday’s $50,000 feature final, with Greg looking forward to making the most of his second chance.

“I’m just glad I’m around a bit longer and that I can watch Coco have another crack at a group race. She’s been so honest and so good to us, she’s been an amazing dog,” he said.

“I think she’ll be competitive but she’s a four-year-old now and there’s some quick dogs in there. Tommy Rees [trainer of fellow Oaks finalist Hurricane’s Reign] was getting swabbed with me and he said “it looks like I’m up against the pensioners” and I said “are you talking about me or Coco?” and he said “both”. So we know we’ve got our work cut out for us but she’s a chance.”

The final of the Group 2 Ladbrokes Richmond Oaks is this Friday, March 1.