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By John Curtis

He's well named and lucky to be alive, let alone racing and winning!

Hawkesbury trainer Steve O’Halloran on Monday night told the story of his three-year-old Mal Coupe, who broke through for his first victory in the Maiden Handicap (1100m) at Bathurst earlier in the day as an odds-on favourite.

Ironically, it appeared odds-on the Xtravagant gelding wouldn’t even see a racetrack when he was badly injured as a young horse.

Mal Coupe (Chad Lever) parades at Kembla Grange. Image by Bradley Photographers

“Mal Coupe crashed through a fence on his owners’ Gary and Kay Stevenson’s property just outside Orange when he was either a weanling or a yearling,” O’Halloran said.

“He was cut from the shoulder to the fetlock joint, and the vet looked at him and advised that he should be put down.

"However, Gary and Kay wanted to save him and give him the chance to be a racehorse.

“Thankfully they did. Touch wood Mal Coupe (a French name which translated to English means badly cut) hasn’t had a day of lameness since he came to me.”

Having only his sixth start and second this preparation, Mal Coupe ($1.85), with Winona Costin aboard, trailed fellow Hawkesbury representative, Tommy Wong’s Quick Step ($5.50) and put the issue beyond doubt in the straight, bursting clear to score by a widening four and a half lengths.

“Mal Coupe showed ability at his first preparation, but I tried to stretch him out to 1400m at Canberra in mid-December after he ran a close fourth to Rubi’s Serve over 1300m at Newcastle,” O’Halloran said.

“It didn’t work and I turned him out, and made up my mind to keep him to the shorter trips this time. Mal Coupe was narrowly beaten first-up at Canberra over 1000m, and I knew he would be hard to beat today.”

O’Halloran was pleased Mal Coupe was in the first race to enable him to get home safely as the meeting was called off after four races were run.

“I also had him in at Hawkesbury Tuesday, but it’s pretty wet here and I decided it was best to go to Bathurst,” he said. “I didn’t mind going there as I’ve had a bit of luck at the track this year.

“It started raining when the horses were in the enclosure for the first race.”

O’Halloran had been successful at Bathurst with Benamera in January and Royalify in April, and Mal Coupe was his 28th career winner and sixth this season.

He also trains the consistent four-year-old mare Webejamin, a Newcastle winner in March, for the Stevensons. She is currently spelling.

View the full results with race replays for Bathurst here