O'HALLORAN BACK ON TOP IN TOWN

WEDNESDAY: July 23, 2025: THE luck of the Irish had nothing to do with it!

Experienced Hawkesbury horseman Steve O’Halloran celebrated a city victory at Canterbury today with a young horse lucky to be alive much less racing.

Mal Coupe’s owners Gary and Kay Stevenson, who bred the gelding by mating their unraced Pierro mare Enter with Xtravagant, made the trip from Orange to see their three-year-old lead throughout in the Benchmark 64 Handicap (1100m) against his own age, sealing what has been a terrific campaign.

Ridden by Winona Costin – who has been aboard in all five starts this preparation for three wins and two seconds – Mal Coupe ($7) never looked like losing, and defeated Maquisa ($3,.50) and $2,.45 favorite Shalaa Gold.

Mal Coupe, French translated to English means badly cut – and that’s exactly what happened before he had even raced.

He crashed through a fence on the Stevensons’ property just outside Orange, and was cut from the shoulder joint to the fetlock.

Such was the extent of the injury that a veterinary surgeon recommended he be put down, but his owners wanted to save him and give him the chance to race.

“Touch wood Mal Coupe hasn’t had any lameness since he came to me,” O’Halloran said.

“But I learnt from a mistake I made stepping him up to 1400m at Canberra last December after he had run a close fourth over 1300m at Newcastle in a Provincial Maiden Plate.

“It didn’t work, and I sent him for a break.

“Mal Coupe came back much stronger and more mature in the head, and I decided to train him as a deadest sprinter.”

O’Halloran, for more than a decade and a half a trusted Gai Waterhouse lieutenant and closely associated with five of her Golden Slipper winners, in 2020 took up an offer to train for Waratah Thoroughbreds’ Paul Fudge at his state of the art facility in the Southern Highlands, and prepared eight winners, including a city breakthrough with Prince Of Arragon (Tim Clark) at Warwick Farm in a Benchmark 72 Handicap (2200m) in September that year.

However when Fudge took ill and subsequently sold his establishment to RacingNSW, O’Halloran was left with no option but to look elsewhere – and moved to Hawkesbury in 2021.

He has worked hard to make a success of his training venture, and Mal Coupe not only gave him an overdue return to the city winning list, but also provided him with a benchmark eight winners this season.

A hands-on trainer, O’Halloran took blinkers off Mal Coupe when he began this preparation at Canberra on May 9, and has kept them off.

“I was a bit surprised at Mal Coupe’s weight (59.5kg) today, but didn’t want to take Winona (Costin) off to claim,” he said.

“She has done such a good job on him.”

Whilst O’Halloran understandably would like to now win a Saturday race in town, especially at his former workplace Royal Randwick, he puts his horse first.

“There is a Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap over 1100m there on August 9,” he said.

“But it will all depend on Mal Coupe’s progress.

“If he continues to do well, we might have a crack at it, otherwise he can go for a little break.

. HOOFNOTE: O’Halloran also is training Mal Coupe’s younger half-sister (by Peltzer) for the Stevensons.

“She is rising three and has been in for a couple of little preps, but is still backward and definitely not ready to race yet,” he said.