MAL COUPE READY TO “CUT IT” ON RESUMPTION

STEVE O’Halloran waited a week, he’s got the champion jockey on his side and a good barrier to boot.

Decent rain if it arrives would be the icing on the cake for Mal Coupe’s return at Royal Randwick on Saturday as he strives to extend his picket fence to four wins.

Nonetheless, the skilled Hawkesbury horseman believes his young sprinter will still be hard to beat even on a good surface.

Mal Coupe resumes in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1000m) with James McDonald aboard, and has 60kg topweight.

O’Halloran considered kicking off the four-year-old’s latest campaign in a Benchmark 94 Handicap (1000m) at Randwick last Saturday, but decided to wait a week after taking a phone call from McDonald’s manager Mark Guest.

“Mark mentioned James would be available to ride Mal Coupe in the Midway if we held off starting him, so obviously he had done his homework,” O’Halloran said this morning.

“There was also rain forecast for later this week, so it seemed a sensible move not to run last Saturday.

“I’m not sure whether there will be enough rain to have an impact on this week’s track, but I couldn’t be any happier with how Mal Coupe is.

“His two trials at Rosehill Gardens last month (a win on January 13 and second to Celui, who won last week’s race, on January 29) were good.

“Whilst Mal Coupe was beaten at his first four starts on good tracks at his inaugural campaign, he is clearly a much better horse now (four wins from last five starts).

“I feel he will be okay if it’s a good track, and the 60kg should not be a problem either.

“He has come back a bit stronger, and Saturday’s race obviously isn’t anywhere near as strong as last week’s Benchmark 94.

“Whilst his four wins to date have all been at 1100m, the 1000m looks ideal for his first run back and I believe he will manage 1200m, but probably no further.”

O’Halloran has done a superb job with well-named Mal Coupe, who is lucky to be alive let alone winning races.

As a young horse he crashed through a fence at his breeder-owners Gary and Kay Stevenson’s property near Orange, and was badly cut from the shoulder to the fetlock joint.

Veterinary advice was that he should be put down, but the Stevensons wanted to give him every chance to recover and race – and he has repaid them in spades.

Mal Coupe translated from French to English means badly cut.

. Gosford filly Dietrich didn’t need any magic to post the second win of her six-start career at her home track yesterday.

And as O’Halloran has done with Mal Coupe, the three-year-old’s experienced trainer Kylie Gavenlock has also done a terrific job with her.

Named after Dorothy Dietrich, one of the world’s best female magicians, Dietrich ($2.20 favorite) was too good for her rivals in the Benchmark 64 Handicap (1100m).

Talented apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald also partnered the filly in her breakthrough 1000m victory – also at Gosford – in December.

“Dietrich had some feet issues after her last run (a close third at Gosford on January 9), and that’s why she had not started since,” Gavenlock said today.

“She is a nice filly heading in the right direction, and has pulled up really well.

“As a result, I may give her another start before a break.”

Dietrich is raced by a syndicate headed by her breeder Kim Harding, and there is a real local connection as the filly’s dam Magic Zeta is a daughter of Magic Albert, who won seven races (including the 2001 Group 3 Spring Stakes at Newcastle) for now retired legendary Gosford trainer Albert Stapleford).

Gavenlock had Magic Zeta for a preparation, but unfortunately a bad accident prevented her from ever racing.

Fellow Gosford trainer Adam Duggan also was in the winner’s stall at the Gosford meeting.

He prepared four-year-old Showtime Shadow ($3.80) to breakthrough in the 4YO & Up Maiden Handicap (1100m) at not only the gelding’s first start for him, but also first since September 2024 when unplaced at Tuncurry on a heavy track for his previous trainer Luke Thomas.

Showtime Shadow was an $18,000 buy at the 2023 Magic Millions yearling sale in Adelaide.

STORY JOHN CURTIS, FEBRUARY 12, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS