Talk Veuve to Me cruises in Indiana Oaks

Talk Veuve to Me ran into the very good filly Mia Mischief in the Eight Belles, her stakes debut, and an even better one, Monomoy Girl, in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes. Second in both those races, Talk Veuve to Me was top shelf Saturday night at Indiana Grand, waltzing to a very easy victory in the Grade 3, $200,000 Indiana Oaks.

Molecules set off to lead through quick fractions of 23.17 and 46.66 seconds, but Talk Veuve to Me and Julien Leparoux were clocking her from second the whole way. On the far turn, Leparoux gave his filly her cue to get the leader, whom she inhaled, quickly putting the race to bed. Figarella’s Queen tried to make a run at Talk Veuve to Me, but as Figarella’s Queen came under a drive Talk Veuve to Me was doing everything on her own. Leparoux never pressed her and she galloped home to a 4 3/4-length win.

“It was beautiful to see,” said Barry Irwin, CEO of Team Valor International, which bought into Talk Veuve to Me after an 11 1/4-length maiden win March 25 at Fair Grounds. “She had two gut wrenchers. She needed a tonic.”

Talk Veuve to Me didn’t sneak up on anyone. She was the 1-10 favorite and paid $2.20 to win. Off six furlongs in 1:11.06 and a mile in 1:36.38, Talk Veuve to Me was timed in 1:43.15 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast track. Figarella’s Queen finished almost seven lengths in front of third-place Kelly’s Humor.

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset (who still owns part of the filly, as does Stephen McKay) bought Talk Veuve to Me privately when she failed to meet her reserve at a 2-year-old-in-training sale during the spring of 2017, and she was among the first horses in his barn when he began training on his own last year. Talk Veuve to Me finished second in her lone start at 2, had a straightforward and relatively minor leg fracture that merely required time to heal, and came back with her big Fair Grounds win. The filly has a route pedigree (by Violence, out of the Point Given mare Biblical Point), and Brisset believed she’d stretch out kindly. Talk Veuve to Me, coming off a seven-furlong race and a one-turn mile, bore out his confidence Saturday.

“We were very anxious to see her run two turns,” Brisset said. “I think a little relief today was a good thing for her.”

But there will be no relief if Talk Veuve to Me wants to take her game to the Grade 1 level. Monomoy Girl still lurks, and both Midnight Bisou and Red Ruby have delivered strong performances in the last two weeks. No plans have yet been made for the rest of Talk Veuve to Me’s campaign.

“She may have to face them and turn the table on some to be in the top three,” Brisset said. “But we are what we are.”

And what they are – what she is – is an excellent 3-year-old filly.