KEY POINTS:
Four weeks ago Mark Walker watched intently as Princess Coup walked off the Matamata training track.
"You know," he said in that quiet, determined way of his, "this season we're going to have to view every win we get with this mare as a bonus."
This was Mark Walker being the realist.
"You can just start to see a few signs of wear and tear."
They weren't obvious to most of us when a week or so later Princess Coup picked up the first of her bonuses in winning the $250,000 Stoney Bridge Stakes, but you know they would have been there.
Only trainers of horses who have competed regularly at group one level are truly aware of the physical toll that takes on horses.
The strain on muscles, joints and tendons when constantly chasing Australasia's best thoroughbreds is fierce.
There is a settling day for every aspect of horse racing and the square-up for one or two seasons at the highest level of competition is the wear and tear Mark Walker talks about.
Which makes Sunline just about the soundest thoroughbred ever produced.
She raced for four full seasons against Australia's greatest, beating them more often than not, and retired without one sign of unsoundness.
That's pretty much unheard of.
Princess Coup will carry her wear and tear into tomorrow's $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes as the $2.10 favourite
"General stiffness and being crabby in her action," is the way Mark Walker describes the Princess Coup of today.
But there was little sign of stiffness or action deficiency when Opie Bosson cut Princess Coup loose at the 400m in the Stoney Bridge.
The dominating sprint she produced to sweep past every rival had everyone saying: 'How can they beat her in the Kelt?'
Perhaps they can't, but Mark Walker, despite his relatively young age, knows there are no good things at group one level, particularly with a back-runner in a field of such talent.
But he's not going to swap your horse for his.
"She's dead on par with how she was on the day she won this race last year," he says.
"She's spot on for the race and you couldn't possibly get her any better.
"Now it's a matter of whether she's good enough and whether she gets the right luck to allow her to win."
Walker says he won't be giving Opie Bosson riding instructions.
"We all know she can be tardy away from the gates.
"But, you never know, she might jump away well this time - it's something you can't pre-empt with her."
Walker knows he has one luxury - a mare that can get out wide into the clear and still keep coming home after covering ground, if that's the only option to get out of the way of the weakening horses approaching the home turn tomorrow.
You can just read his worst fear: "There is nothing as bad as horses dropping back on you quickly late in a race like this."
Bosson is New Zealand's coolest jockey under the pressure of group one racing, something Walker may have to rely on in the final 30-odd seconds of tomorrow's showpiece.
SEEKING SECOND CROWN
* Mark Walker says he can see a touch of wear and tear in Princess Coup, but that won't stop punters sending the high class mare out hot favourite for New Zealand's richest race.
* Since she swamped her rivals to win the group one Stoney Bridge Stakes last start, Princess Coup has been everyone's choice to make it back-to-back Kelt Capital Stakes.
* Princess Coup will almost certainly drop back early again and her danger late in the race may come from bad luck.
