Last Friday night at Gloucester Park brilliant six year old Talk To Me Courage claimed a close victory in the $35 000 Group 3 Lord Mayor’s Cup (2536m) in an unexpected upset.
Starting at odds of $10.90, the Gary Hall-trained Talk To Me Courage defeated roughie Spiritwithin ($54.30) by a head with Halls’ other runner Spirit Of Shard ($16) over 3.5m back for third.
The win gave champion horseman Gary Hall his fourth Lord Mayor’s Cup. He has previously won with Tricky Bey (1994), Abit Rich (1997) and Live To Reign (2007).
The clear pre-race favourite Has The Answers ($1.40) had a disappointing finish in ninth place after tiering in the final strides. The Tony Svilicich-trained gelding began brilliantly on the outside, showing sensational gate speed from barrier nine.
A fast tempo saw Has The Answers unable to cross to the front and it was Harvey Cup winner Tealsby Karita ($7.80) who charged to the lead by 2m, setting the pace after 400m, while Has The Answers sat second on the outside.
Talk To Me Courage, driven by reinsman Shane Cramp, was well back early on. Coming into the turn with just over two laps to go Has The Answers sat up on the outside of the leader Tealsby Karita, who with Gary Hall Jnr. behind the reigns controlled the race. Talk To Me Courage sat back in second last while eventual third-placegetter Spirit Of Shard was in last position.
Coming into the home turn after a 29.9s first quarter Tealsby Karita still held the lead by 2.5m with one lap to go. The second quarter was run in 28.8s, with little movement regarding positions, Talk To Me Courage still sitting in second last at this stage.
Talk To Me Courage then masterfully weaved his way through the traffic after a sharp 28.5 third quarter. In the final quarter Has The Answers got into the lead by a nose as Tealsby Karita started to drop back with 300m to go, before Spiritwithin raced up on the outside and hit the front.
Driven by Aldo Cortopassi, Spiritwithin was still in front by over a length with only 30m to go but then Talk To Me Courage started to fly through, pulling out a brilliant late burst of acceleration to snatch the win from Spiritwithin with the winner’s stablemate Spirit Of Shard finishing third wide out.
Pacemaker Tealsby Karita ended up finishing fifth behind Lively Royce in fourth.
Talk To Me Courage ran a scintillating mile rate of 1:57.8 on Friday night, slashing the previous Lord Mayor’s Cup record of 1:58.8 set by Rite in 1984.
A Courage Under Fire gelding, Talk To Me Courage has now won 17 of their 55 career starts for over $195 600 in prizemoney.
2010 Lord Mayor’s Cup Results:
Position |
Horse |
Prizemoney |
Row & Br. |
Trainer |
Driver |
Margin (m) |
| 1 |
TALK TO ME COURAGE (NZ) |
$23, 450 | Fr8 | G E Hall Snr. | S J Cramp | - |
| 2 |
SPIRITWITHIN |
$6, 300 | Fr2 | P J Fletcher | A G Cortopassi | Head |
| 3 |
SPIRIT OF SHARD (NZ) |
$3, 150 | Fr5 | G E Hall Snr. | G L Williams | 3.70 |
| 4 |
LIVELY ROYCE (NZ) |
$1, 400 | Fr4 | J R Graham | J K Prentice | 4.20 |
| 5 |
TEALSBY KARITA |
$700 | Fr6 | P V Willis | G E Hall Jnr. | 7.80 |
| 6 |
TEE PEE VILLAGE (NZ) |
- | Fr7 | J R Graham | K K Howson | 7.90 |
| 7 |
FLAMING ROADSTAR |
- | Sr2 | R A Olivieri | M L Woodley | 8.00 |
| 8 |
ALL IN TECK |
- | Fr1 | K P Egerton-Greeen | C M Brew | 9.90 |
| 9 |
HAS THE ANSWERS |
- | Fr9 | T Svilicich | A C Lewis | 12.10 |
| 10 |
ROSTREIVER ORNUM (NZ) |
- | Fr3 | T Svilicich | C D Voak | 16.80 |
| 11 |
DE GALDEARNO |
- | Sr1 | D M Padberg | S J Suvaljko | 23.80 |