Talk of the Nation surges to take Gun Runner Stakes
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The Kentucky Downs purses are the talk of racing and Talk of the Nation scooped up the winner’s share of the $1 million Gun Runner Stakes on Saturday.
Talk of the Nation got a sweet pressing trip under Jose Ortiz as Smokey Mandate led this one-mile contest through splits of 22.86 and 45.62, solid but not wickedly fast for the distance at this unique American racing venue.
Smokey Mandate, coming off a mere maiden win at Horseshoe Indianapolis, stayed on gamely, but the more experienced Talk of the Nation wore him down, taking the lead at the eighth pole, then fending off a belated move from Wadsworth to prevail by a half-length. Smokey Mandate got third by a head over his Mike Maker-trained stablemate Gaslight Dancer.
Trainer Shug McGaughey had been just 1-24 with his recent stakes runners but found an extremely lucrative spot for Talk of the Nation, who fit this race so well he was the 6-5 favorite. Talk of the Nation announced his presence as a 3-year-old turf-route stakes horse in March, when he sharply won the Columbia Stakes at Tampa Bay, but little went right for the colt in the next couple months.
Talk of the Nation, over the protests of his jockey, was scratched on the track before the American Turf at Churchill Downs in May. When McGaughey ran him back June 3 in the Jersey Derby, Talk of the Nation’s training schedule had been disrupted; the colt was too fresh, pulled too hard, and was run down late, finishing second. In the Manila Stakes on July 9, Talk of the Nation got into a speed duel and again was passed in the homestretch.
But on Saturday, in his first Kentucky Downs start, he held on.
Wadsworth raced very wide in upper stretch after running seventh of eight in the early and middle stages. He finished fastest but had just a little too much to do while clearly second-best, finishing 1 1/2 lengths in front of the third- and fourth-place horses.
Talk of the Nation was timed in 1:32.93 over firm going; with a 230-foot runup, the horses had hit high speed when timing began, and including the runup, the race was closer to 1 1/16 miles than one mile. Talk of the Nation paid $4.74. Tall Boy was an early vet scratch, while Georgie W was scratched during the warm-up period.
Talk of the Nation was bred by China Horse Club, which owns the colt in partnership with Joe Allen. Talk of the Nation is by Quality Road out of She’s Not Here, by Street Cry. And at Kentucky Downs, where the money flows like water, he added $600,840 to his $177,770 bankroll.
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