Talk The Talk done for the season as chasing career awaits

Joseph O’Brien’s smart novice hurdler Talk The Talk will not run again this season, with a chasing career on the horizon.

The five-year-old looked sure to win a Grade One at Leopardstown over Christmas, only to stumble and fall at the final flight.

He got up to win late at the Dublin Racing Festival and was well fancied for the Supreme at Cheltenham but failed to land a blow in a race dominated by UK-trained runners.

“Talk The Talk won’t run again, he’ll come back next year,” said O’Brien.

“In hindsight he ran in the wrong race, the tempo caught him out. We made a bad call on the day, but hindsight is easy. I’d imagine he’ll go chasing next season.

“All the Irish horses in the Supreme had been running in brutal ground and they all got lost on the better ground, that’s how it goes, it was a shock to the system. I’d say he’s a middle-distance horse as opposed to a two-miler.”

O’Brien was able to celebrate at Cheltenham, though, when his yard favourite Home By The Lee won the Stayers’ Hurdle at the fifth attempt.

“Home By The Lee winning was a fantastic day, I think he came here just as he turned four so from the very beginning,” said O’Brien.

“I think he’s our winning-most horse, he’s been a great horse for years. For Sean O’Driscoll and his family who bred him, to be there all the way through, he’s been amazing. There’s a chance he goes to Aintree.”

Ayr and not Aintree is on O’Brien’s mind for Kim Muir fourth Kim Roque.

He said: “Kim Roque is in the Scottish National so it will be that or something at Punchestown. He ran very well at Cheltenham, he has a Scottish owner (Ronnie Bartlett) and you tend to get better ground there don’t you.”