Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Speedy frontrunner Talks Up A Storm relished a change from his successful racing pattern of setting the pace when Kyle Harper took a conservative approach and drove him with a sit in the 1730m Westside Auto Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Talks Up A Storm, trained by Murray Lindau, was a $5.60 chance from the No. 5 barrier, and he raced in the one-out and two-back position before surging home from sixth at the 500m to get up in the final couple of strides to win by a neck from the pacemaker and $2.20 favourite James Butt, rating a smart 1.54.4.
“It is hard to cross (to the front) in 1730m events beginning in the home straight and with the first bend coming up quickly,” said Harper. “I couldn’t see Talks Up A Storm crossing James Butt (from barrier one) and I didn’t want to risk being in the breeze.
“His previous start (fifth behind Arma Einstein) was a touch disappointing, while his two starts before that were excellent. He is a bit hit and miss. When he turns up, he is excellent, but when he doesn’t, it leaves us scratching our heads.
“Tonight, we decided to drive him conservatively. Murray has freshened him up and produced him at his best this week. Running 28.6sec. coming into the bell had him off the bridle, and my confidence dipped a little bit.
“Then about the 500m he was back on the bridle, and soon after that we got shifted three wide, and I was content to go with it and he kept changing gears and found the line strongly. I didn’t release the plugs even tough it was a tight finish. In previous runs when I pulled the plugs, I didn’t get much of a reaction. We weren’t getting the required result you normally get when you pull the plugs.”
Lindau said that he couldn’t complain with how Talks Up A Storm had performed during his 53-start career of 13 wins, 14 placings and stakes of $210,264.
“He has tested me all the way along — about what horse who turns up for his races,” he said. “And I’ve had a fair share with health issues with him.”