Two-year-old Keep Talking impresses onlookers at Fair Grounds

It did not take long for the first open-maiden 2-year-old winner to impress onlookers at the current Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots meet. On Sunday, Brereton C. Jones’ homebred Keep Talking, making his second career start, owned up to his 3-2 odds and won for fun in a six-furlong heat under Gabriel Saez, finishing fastest at the wire and galloping out strongly. Trained by Tom Proctor, who has a string at the New Orleans oval this winter, the son of Ghostzapper hit the wire a much-the-best 3¾  lengths superior.

“We’ve always liked him,” said Lindsay Schultz, assistant to Proctor and a Godolphin Flying Start alum. “He’s always trained well, so it was nice to see him do that.”

In his Oct. 15 debut at Keeneland last out, the well-built bay colt was the buzz of the race following a pair of sharp drills, including a half-mile in 46.40. Sent to post as the 6-5 favorite under Jose Ortiz, he appeared uncomfortable chasing the pace, yet still managed to make a four-wide bid before flattening out to finish sixth. No such discomfort was apparent on Sunday, as Keep Talking made all the conversation from the quarter pole home, drawing away late, despite displaying his youth and being on the wrong lead.

“He got rushed a bit out of the gate first time out and was ran off his feet,” Schultz said. “It was a learning experience for him, but he definitely improved. We will see if he can keep getting better. He came out well. He galloped (Thursday) and he was full of himself.”

A first foal of Distorted Humor mare Honey Talk - a sister to quality graded stakes-placed turf runner Perregaux - Keep Talking was a $45,000 RNA at Keeneland’s September 2015 Yearling Sale. His second dam is Sweet Talker, who won the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

 
MAKER, TRUST FACTOR UNDECIDED ON CHAMPIONS DAY
 

Trainer Mike Maker has indicated that he is undecided on whether Scrivener Stables’ recent turf allowance winner Trust Factor will run in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Turf. The leggy gray son of Paddy O’Prado is a Louisiana-bred and defeated his state-bred foes by an easy 2¼ lengths on Sunday afternoon. A run back in the Turf would mean a relatively short 20-day break for the talented charge.

Racing near the pace throughout, the lightly raced 3-year-old colt forged ahead at the top of the stretch - despite a quick pace of 23.24 and 46.96 - and finished up in 23.96 for his final quarter mile while under steady urging from James Graham to stop the clock in a swift 1:34.98 for the mile.

Trust Factor had only made three prior starts, including a ninth-place finish on debut at Kentucky Downs in Sept. 2015 and a runner-up effort on the dirt behind classic-placed Cherry Wine in Churchill maiden company two months later. This year, after 11 months off, he broke his maiden at Indiana Grand on Oct. 12 with ease in gate-to-wire fashion.

On talent and earnings, Trust Factor appears a value. A bargain $12,000 Ocala purchase, he has earned $54,100 and is the first foal of the Mizzen Mast mare Mainsail, who is out of a sister to the dam of Breeders’ Cup-placed multiple graded stakes winner Willcox Inn, from a rich immediate Mill Ridge Farm female family that includes Grade I winners Cetewayo and Dynaforce.

WORK TAB
 

Scatter Gun continues to impress in the mornings, carving out a Thanksgiving Day bullet for five furlongs in 59.60 for trainer Neil Pessin. The WinStar Farm-bred, Lothenbach Stables-owned 4-year-old filly lines up in a competitive turf route allowance on Dec. 1.

Earning a bullet for the half-mile on this holiday morning was Fox Hill Farm’s stakes-winning Exodus, who worked his second-consecutive tab-topper when zipping in 47 flat for trainer Larry Jones. Last week the son of multiple Grade I winners Medaglia d’Oro and Stop Traffic worked the same distance in 47.80.

Multiple stakes-winning Oklahoma-bred Steel Cut worked an easy five furlongs in 1:03.40 for owner-trainer Wes Hawley. The daughter of Cactus Ridge has won two stakes in her last three starts.

Smart summer allowance winner Quest (GB) worked an easy half-mile on Thursday morning for new trainer Mike Stidham. Owned by Gainesway Stable, the daughter of Grade I-winning turf miler Mr. Sidney has won half her six 2016 starts since coming to the United States from the French yard of Christiane Head-Maarek.

One to watch is Godolphin Racing’s unraced juvenile colt New World, a good-sized, stellar-looking dark bay by champion Bernardini out of multiple Grade I winner Stellar Jayne. The colt breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40 for trainer Mike Stidham.

Source: Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots