02 April 2020 | Ken Casellas
Veteran mare Talkerup snapped a losing sequence of 30 when she gave a tough staying performance to win over 2536m at Gloucester Park on Tuesday evening and she looks to have excellent prospects of notching another victory when she contests the 2130m Skyharness Pace on Friday night.
The seven-year-old, trained at Byford by Tony Svilicich, will again be handled by outstanding young driver Emily Suvaljko, who notched her 52nd win for the season with Tuesday’s success.
Talkerup, a hardy campaigner with 109 starts for nine wins and 22 placings, will start from the No. 4 barrier on the front line and has the natural speed and tenacity to hold her obvious main rival Madame Meilland at bay.
Talkerup started out wide at barrier nine on Tuesday, and after racing three wide in the early stages she worked hard in the breeze outside the pacemaker Captain Mannering before surging to the front 400m from home and going on to win by a length from Baylan Jett at a 1.58.7 rate after solid quarters of the final mile in 29.8sec., 29.7sec., 28.6sec. and 28.4sec. She paid $65.50 on the tote and $88.50 on the New South Wales tote.
There will be no fancy prices about her on Friday night, but she should give punters a great run for their money.
Talkerup showed wonderful early promise in New Zealand for trainer Cran Dalgety and reinsman Dexter Dunn, winning at each of her first three starts, two at Ashburton and one at Addington.
On debut, over 2400m at Ashburton on December 26, 2015, Talkerup settled in tenth position before getting to the front 600m from home and winning comfortably from Kotare Yael, with the final 800m in 55.2sec. She ran home in 27.1sec. and 27.2sec. to win at her next two outings.
After 11 starts in New Zealand for three wins and four placings Talkerup came to Western Australia where she won at her first start, by four lengths at Kalgoorlie on October 23, 2016. She also won at her first appearance at both Pinjarra and Bunbury later that year, but then she went 25 months before her next win when she ended a losing sequence of 41 with a victory at Gloucester Park last July, with Suvaljko driving her for the first time.
Talkerup is by Changeover and her dam Raconteur (by Bettors Delight) was unplaced at her three starts, all at Forbury Park in late 2010. Raconteur is a half-sister to Machtu and Eloquent Mach.
Machtu won 14 races for champion trainer Gary Hall Snr, including the 2015 Winter Cup (beating David Hercules). He finished second in the Caduceus Club Classic, was third behind Three Blind Mice in the 2014 WA Derby, finished third in the Nights of Thunder in 2015 and 2016 and was third behind David Hercules in the 2015 Pinjarra Cup. He then had a successful career in America and was retired with earnings of $430,116 from 34 wins and 41 placings. Eloquent Mach, also trained by Hall, has already earned $171,169 from 11 wins and six placings from 25 starts.
The Ross Olivieri-trained Madame Meilland looks Talkerup’s main rival, and from the No. 2 barrier and with Chris Lewis in the sulky, she will have many admirers, even though she has a losing sequence of 18.
Madame Meilland the pacemaker Pick My Pocket and finished a sound sixth behind that mare in the $50,000 Empress Stakes last Friday night. Madame Meilland will certainly appreciate a considerable drop in class this week.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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