Delighted owner Ray Coupland, his partner Jill Walls and David Walsh celebrate Coup Align's win. Photo / Otago Daily Times
You might have thought Coup Align's $60,000 Southland Guineas victory on Saturday was the least impressive of his unbeaten six performances.
Rider David Walsh believes it was his best.
Coup Align got home by only a couple of lengths, but he was never happy on the track that
was close enough to slow before the last two races were abandoned.
"He was jogging, but he couldn't pick up in that footing," said Walsh of the Michael Pitman-trained gelding.
"People might say he didn't look impressive, but it was the track conditions that made it look that way."
In search of better footing, Walsh took Coup Align out beyond the middle of the track right from the jump.
That alone makes natural leaders vulnerable, but the hot favourite's class kept him clear up to the home turn.
The only time he looked as though there was a possibility for the others was in the first 100m of the home straight.
"That was the worst part of the track. You had to go through a real soft patch," said Walsh.
"He was doing it easily in the finish - he was actually waiting for the others.
"If they'd been racing against the rails he'd have won by a mile - I don't know by how much."
Walsh points out the fast times Coup Align keeps running as proof of how good he is.
"He ran more than one second faster than the open sprinters and more than three seconds faster than the maidens.
"I know they're only maidens, but three seconds is like 30 lengths - that's massive.
"He looks bigger, brighter and better every time you see him and part of it is because he's getting his experience, but he's not having hard races."
Walsh is thankful Coup Align did not make it to Saturday's million-dollar Telegraph at Trentham.
"I think that's a blessing. The race had the potential to bring him undone." It appears only a heavy track can prevent Coup Align from winning the last two legs of the Southern triple crown and picking up the $100,000 bonus Fritzy Boy missed out on last year because there were not 10 runners in the last leg.
