Done Talking nabs the Illinois Derby at 12 to 1 and readies himself for the Kentucky Derby
In a lineup which contained the likes of Z Rockstar, Our Entourage, and Currency Swap it was the Skeedattle Stable owned 3-year-old colt, Done Talking, who emerged out of the Grade 3, $500,000 Illinois Derby as the victor on 7 April, 2012, at Hawthorne race
course.
Hamilton A. Smith trained, Done Talking, posted a 12 to 1 upset to win the $500,000 event when he ran down Morgan’s Guerrilla in the deep stretch to find a spot in the 5 May, 2012, Grade 1 Kentucky Derby by amassing $300,000 lion’s share of the purse.
The Kentucky bred son of Broken Vow, out of mare Dixie Talking by Dixieland Band, Done Talking was exiting a 10 place finish in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes, where he was 21 lengths off the winner Hansen. To cap off his 2011 juvenile career, Done Talking was
beaten by a length to finish fourth in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at about 1 1/8 mile to O’Prado Again.
Done Talking, prior to the Illinois Derby win, had won twice. His maiden win came at second asking at about 1 mile and 70 yards at Delaware Park, and then he posted a win in the Parx Racing allowance race at about a mile.
Under jockey Sheldon Russell, Done Talking, broke from post number 13 and in the early going settled just off the pace in a large field, while Frankie is Rock showed some early pace to get in front of the pack to set the pace.
He carved fractions of 23.94 seconds for the opening mile and 48.64 seconds for the half mile as he covered six furlongs in 1 minute and 13.14 seconds.
“We wanted to take the horse back early," Russell said. "He’s kind of a one-run horse and we weren’t too keen on using him early going into the first turn. The trainer did tell me to look to make that early move. I tried moving at about the five-eighths
pole, people told me that this is one of the longest stretches in the country so I just wanted to get my horse close enough so that when he did kick in he was going to be close enough to get there. I was very surprised turning for home that we were in about
fourth place.”
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