Mark Walker had been waiting three months and five starts to witness what he saw of Princess Coup in Saturday's $75,000 NZ Bloodstock Desert Gold Stakes.
And wasn't it worth waiting for.
If you have bad luck through the $275,000 1000 Guineas, $300,000 2000 Guineas then the EightCarat Classic and Royal Stakes, you can't feel too bad about taking this one.
The additional upside of the luck change was that this is probably the best Oaks trial we've seen in a decade.
Stunning is the only way to describe the sprint Princess Coup produced for Opie Bosson to sweep past a talented group of fillies.
Three-year-olds that relax like Princess Coup will always manage 2400m and against their own age group they get that far even if it's not their natural stamina index.
Races like the Oaks come down to class and Princess Coup has plenty of it.
Walker said he took the hood off the filly and gave her plenty of barrier practice after she jumped from the outside gate in the Royal Stakes at Ellerslie, turned left and headed towards the crowd.
"I think you saw a pretty good filly here today."
Veloce Bella did well for a gritty second. Jim Collett had a difficult ride on his hands from an outside gate and after Veloce Bella had to work during the race, there was clearly not going to be a response to the winner's home straight dash.
