Table Talking facing challenge from Her Smile

Table Talking is surprisingly well traveled for a 2-year-old. Foaled in Kentucky, she has managed to qualify for restricted stakes with residency requirements in Delaware and South Carolina. She is currently based in Maryland.

The winner of last month’s Small Wonder for Delaware-certified horses, Table Talking will try to make it two in a row in Sunday’s $75,000 Donna Freyer Stakes for South Carolina resident 2-year-olds at Parx Racing.

In order to be eligible for the Freyer and its companion stakes for 2-year-old males, the $75,000 Christopher Elser Memorial, a horse must have spent at least 90 days in South Carolina before June 30 of its 2-year-old season and had fees paid to the South Carolina Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Table Talking had to also spend 90 days in Delaware before her 2-year-old season in order to run in last month’s Small Wonder.

Trained by Robin Graham, Table Talking is a well-bred daughter of Orientate. Her dam, Dixie Talking, was 3 for 4 during her brief racing career, including wins in the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship and the Grade 3 Cicada.

Despite winning 3 of her last 4 starts, Table Talking doesn’t figure to have an easy time in the 6 1/2-furlong Freyer, thanks to the presence of fellow Maryland shipper Her Smile. Trained by Leigh Delacour, Her Smile has gone 2 for 3, including a three-length score in a first-level allowance at Penn National last time out. Her winning Beyer Speed Figure of 77 compares favorably to the 75 Table Talking earned for her victory in the Small Wonder.

The field also includes Pleine Fortune, who makes her dirt debut after racing twice on turf and once on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Presque Isle Downs. Last time out, in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo at Belmont, Pleine Fortune finished 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Table Talking going 1 1/16 miles on the grass.

In the 6 1/2-furlong Esler for colts and geldings, the locally based Ucan’tcme looks like a standout after winning his maiden by four lengths with an 82 Beyer on Oct. 12. The next-best dirt sprint figures in the field belong to Pazzo Razzo (59), second in his career debut against maiden claimers, and Miscoe Gray (58), second in a field of 10 Massachusetts-breds in a minor stakes at Suffolk Downs.