KEY POINTS:
There will never be a more appropriate winner of the $300,000 New Zealand Oaks than Princess Coup.
For starters, consider her trainer, Mark Walker.
He'd desperately wanted this and he deserved it.
Preparing a team the size of the one he manages at Te Akau Racing Stables is
a massive undertaking.
Add to that the pressure that nearly half of them are financial investments, rather than horses simply being raced for pleasure, and it becomes racing's toughest job.
Add to that a new baby.
Yet Walker is unfailingly courteous and helpful.
Consider Princess Coup's co-owner, Ray Coupland.
The master pie and cake producer does not like talking about the number of horses he races or has shares in.
But you and I wouldn't sleep if we had to find the daily training fees that the Christchurch businessman pays.
Then consider Opie Bosson.
You shudder when you think what New Zealand racing would have lost had Bosson not made the snap decision to try to somehow lose an impossible amount of weight from his ballooning 72.5kg body a year ago and resurrect the career that looked finished.
Bosson is that far and away the best jockey we have, it's no contest.
Imagine the void if Walker, Coupland and Bosson suddenly disappeared from the industry.
No, they all deserved this group-one victory, on a day that deserved to have a brighter outlook than the dreary, soaking atmosphere of Wellington and Trentham on Saturday.
And no horse deserved the title of New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year more than Princess Coup.
No horse at the top level of New Zealand racing has raced each month since the start of the season in August - take a bow Princess Coup, and Walker can take one with her.
Walker is not one to look back - something that can be extremely painful in the racing industry - but one of his thoughts immediately after Princess Coup destroyed her Oaks opposition on Saturday was Riccarton in November.
"I still believe she should have won both the 1000 and 2000 Guineas at Riccarton - she was desperately unlucky in both," he said.
Two group one losses that might have been victories is a massive downturn for a filly's value, which made this, Princess Coup's last chance at the highest level of glory, so important.
The 1000 and 2000 Guineas would look good on any mare's pedigree sales catalogue page, but so too does the Oaks and Filly of the Year.
It gives you an appreciation of the pressure the Princess Coup camp was feeling on Saturday as the countdown to the Oaks began.
"I just hope we can hold her together for one more run," Walker said with five minutes to post time, but no one really knew just how much he was hoping.
It's a shame Walker couldn't read Bosson's mind for most of the race, because it would have eased the tension he was feeling.
"I pretty much knew I had the race covered from the 1400m," said the Matamata jockey in that casual, relaxed attitude that is so much part of his success.
"She was travelling beautifully and managing the ground."
That became obvious to everyone else when Bosson pressed the button at the 400m and Princess Coup exploded with a sprint that defied the 2400m distance and the testing conditions.
It's that sprint which excites Bosson about Princess Coup.
"Her turn of foot when you ask her to sprint is remarkable."
Coupland and his Wellington-based co-owner can now look forward to the $2 million Kelt Capital Stakes in the spring.
"I think she'll be an ideal 2000m horse as a 4-year-old," said Bosson.
