Serious Talk gets first stakes win in Woodstock

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Serious Talk, a Kentucky shipper who graduated for $32,000 at Woodbine last year, caught a determined Jacks Escarpment late to take Saturday’s opening-day feature, the $131,500 Woodstock Stakes.

Serious Talk assumed an outside stalking position under Emma-Jayne Wilson in the six-furlong sprint as Jacks Escarpment set quick fractions of 21.62 and 44 seconds, with City of Vengeance and Imperial Dream in close proximity.

Serious Talk took dead aim at Jacks Escarpment in the final furlong and got home on top by three-quarters of a length in 1:09.52.

The favored Conquest Bigluck E rallied belatedly on the outside to finish a distant third in a field reduced to seven with the scratch of Hammerstein.

Serious Talk returned $22.90 and banked $75,000 in his first stakes score for owner Michael Hui. He previously was victorious in an optional claimer at Turfway Park over Indygo Bo, who wound up fifth in the Woodstock.