Talk The Talk bidding to bounce back on Sunday

Talk The Talk is backed to atone for his Leopardstown fall at Christmas and book his Cheltenham Festival ticket when he returns to the Irish capital for the Dublin Racing Festival.

Impressive at Limerick and Fairyhouse in his opening outings over timber, Joseph O’Brien’s five-year-old appeared set for Grade One success when stumbling and subsequently parting company with Sam Ewing after the last when seen over the festive period.

A son of former Irish Derby runner-up Born To Sea and owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, Talk The Talk is the ante-post market leader for the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle on Sunday, and racing manager Daryl Jacob feels this is the perfect spot for the improving novice to regain the winning thread.

He said: “It will be interesting to see how he handles the soft ground at the weekend and we know he will be a better horse when he goes on better ground, but this is the obvious race and we need to get him out again before Cheltenham.

“He’s got a good cruising speed and turn of foot, but I think there is plenty of stamina in there and hopefully he has everything he needs.”

He went on: “It was a shame he tipped up at Christmas and I thought he was coming to win the race, but he just jumped big and very scopey over the last and just got his hind end a bit higher than needed and tipped over the back of it.

“Sam Ewing was deputising for J J (Slevin) and he was very confident at the time and also very complimentary about him afterwards.

“He had ridden him beforehand (at Fairyhouse) and thought he had come on loads at Christmas, which was a very good sign, and Joseph has always said he is trying to get him to progress throughout the season.”

Joining Talk The Talk in Grade One action at the Foxrock track could be Willie Mullins’ El Fabiolo, who has the option of lining up in the Irish Champion Hurdle after successfully reverting to timber at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve.

That form received a timely boost from both runner-up Glen Kiln and third horse Spillane’s Tower over the weekend, and connections feel the nine-year-old has all the attributes to shake up stablemate Lossiemouth and Gordon Elliott’s Brighterdaysahead on Sunday.

Jacob continued: “He’s due to do his final work at Closutton on Wednesday and if he does line up I think he will run a big race because I was taken with him at Punchestown, I thought he travelled and jumped great then quickened down to the last really well, then again after the last.

“Considering it was his first run back over hurdles after his falls over fences, he seemed to really enjoy it and took Danny Mullins into the hurdles and that’s what I loved about him – there was no backing away from the challenge of jumping hurdles.

“With that run under his belt he will be an awful lot fitter for it and we wanted to give him plenty of time when he came back and that is why he wasn’t out as early as some.

“There will be a lot more improvement to come and when you chuck him into that Champion Hurdle mix, you know you have a horse that jumps and travels well, can stay very well and goes well on the heavy ground.

“There might be some question marks about some of the others, whereas there isn’t many questions about us.”

Also representing the ‘Double Green’ team in Grade One company over the course of Leopardstown’s popular two-day meeting will be Yeshil in the curtain raising Nathaniel Lacy & Partners Solicitors Novice Hurdle.

Meanwhile, Blizzard Of Oz is not without mention as he attempts to bounce back to his best in Sunday’s O’Driscolls Irish Whiskey Leopardstown Handicap Chase.

Jacob added: “Yeshil is an interesting horse on the Saturday, realistically he is outclassed in the race but he’s one we really like and will keep on improving – he won’t mind the ground and will like the trip.

“Blizzard Of Oz was disappointing at Leopardstown at Christmas but was running a huge race in the Coral Gold Cup before making a mistake at the cross-fence. J J thought he was cantering and if he’s in the same form there is a big handicap in him.

“You can put a line through his last run and I don’t think soft ground will be much of a problem for him.”