In Brief
- Supalopo makes it three wins in succession.
- Trinder says the gelding is 12 months away from being a handy stayer.
- McCoull surprised how much horse he had under him when he asked for an effort.
Trainer Adam Trinder is confident his lightly raced gelding Supalopo will develop into a handy stayer given the way he has won his way through the lower grades this preparation.
Supalopo made it three wins in succession when he came from near last to easily win a benchmark 66 handicap over 1620 metres in Launceston on Saturday night.
This preparation the four-year-old gelded son of Needs Further notched four consecutive seconds before he embarked on his winning streak and Trinder could stretch him out to 2100 metres this time in.
“Last start he came from well back in the field, tonight and the pre-race plan for this assignment was to allow him to do the same and it’s worked out well,” Trinder said.
“Brendon and I spoke before the race and I asked him not to be concerned with him being what might look too far back because he just needed to trust him because I loved the way that he relaxed at his previous start and was still able to win.
“We went with a tried and tested formula for this horse and he never let us down.”
Supalopo ($2.50 fav) settled near last and he was still in that position at the half-way mark, but when McCoull called on the gelding to extend he quickly gathered in the leaders and had the race in his keeping a long way from home.
“This was his strongest test so far and he has delivered what I expected.
“This horse has a great attitude and he’s probably 12 months away from being a very nice stayer and I’m happy that he is heading in the right direction.”
McCoull said he was surprised how easily Supalopo gathered in the leaders.
“It was a definitely a tale of two halves with this race because he just relaxed and traveled in his comfort zone but 800 metres out I thought I’d better start to get him wound up because he was a fair way back,” McCoull said.
“But he just whizzed around the field and I got to the leaders a bit earlier than I expected and I didn’t realise I had that much horse underneath me, to be honest.
“Adam told me that he planned to get the horse out to 2100m, and I thought he would be a bit too brilliant to achieve that but after what he did tonight, I’m sure this horse will run out a strong 2100m.”
Watch Supalopo score an impressive win in Launceston last Saturday night.