A belated start to the Spring Carnival now awaits I’m All The Talk after trainer Gary Portelli opted not to nominate the colt for the Group 3 $135,000 Vain Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
I'm All The Talk is to miss a start in the Vain Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Steve Hart.
Even though the Stratum colt won his 900m barrier trial at Rosehill last Monday, Portelli wasn’t completely happy and ordered blood tests.
“He didn’t trial as well as I thought he would and blood tests showed his white count wasn’t quite right,” Portelli told AAP.
“It means he misses the Vain Stakes but there are plenty of other races for him.
“We won’t rush.”
Portelli will now monitor I’m All The Talk’s progress closely before mapping out a revised Spring program.
I’m All The Talk entered the spotlight with a three and a half lengths win in the Group 3 $125,000 Hyland Race Colours Skyline Stakes (1200m) at Warwick Farm on March 16.
That win impressed Portelli enough to push onto the Group 1 $3.5m Tooheys New Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill on April 6, but after racing in the first half of the field faded to finish tenth behind Gai Waterhouse’s smart filly Overreach.
Portelli’s other Spring Carnival contender Rebel Dane is set to resume in the Group 3 $125,000 Show County Quality (1200m) at Warwick Farm on August 24 and the Warwick Farm trainer is happy with his progress.
Rebel Dane showed Portelli in the Autumn that he can mix it with the best but won’t be overtaxing the four year old in the Spring.
“He remains on target for the Show County Quality at Warwick Farm on Saturday week,” Portelli said.
“We’ll keep him to shorter races. We aren’t going to commit to anything yet.
“He is a hard horse to keep the weight on and I need to let him tell me how he is going.”
“He had a couple of hard runs in the autumn but we were committed to a plan. This time we will let him tell us.”
Rebel Dane showed his potential with an eye-catching win in the Group 2 $175,000 Royal Sovereign Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill on February 16.
The California Dane colt then ran the mighty Pierro to a nose when second in the Group 2 $200,000 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill on March 2.
Rebel Dane was then sent out the favourite in the Group 1 $550,000 Hyland Race Colours Royal Randwick Guineas (1600m) at Warwick Farm on March 16 but was unable to match it with It’s A Dundeel, Proisir and Tatra and wound up in fourth spot.
