Bigger, stronger Talented wins at Sandown

Talented (left) is on a possible autumn feature-race trail after winning first-up at Sandown.

Talented has lived up to her name with a first-up Sandown midweek win that may lead the filly to better races during the autumn.

The Peter and Paul Snowden stable held high expectations for the filly during the spring, but immaturity counted against her.

Andrew Angelone, in charge of the Snowden’s Melbourne stable, said there was a stark contrast between the filly that raced during the spring and the one that scored first-up in the Ladbrokes Multi Builder Handicap (1300m) on Wednesday was clearly visible.

Ridden by Beau Mertens, Talented ($12) scored by a short half-head from Debt’n’Deficit ($8) with the $4.20 favourite Affair To Remember a long neck away third.

“Last prep she wasn’t mature enough for those spring horses, wasn’t strong enough,” Angelone said.

“If you saw a picture of her from last prep to this prep, she is a different horse.

“It all comes down to maturity, that’s the key, and I think the blinkers help her as well, she just focuses more.”

After a debut win at Geelong in January last year, Talented headed straight to black-type company at Flemington.

The filly finished second to Microphone in the Talindert Stakes before running third to Flit in the Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes.

On the strength of those performances, the Snowden stable aimed high last spring with a sixth-placed finish in the Listed Jim Moloney Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in September her best performance in a five-start campaign.

With Wednesday’s win under the belt, Angelone said the stable was unlikely to rush the filly.

“She’s probably still eligible for a Benchmark 64 race, but there might be a nice city race here in Melbourne or even a stakes race over in Adelaide,” Angelone said.

“She was stakes-placed as a two-year-old, so it would be nice to get a stakes win for her future as a broodmare.

“This campaign was all about making sure she was strong in her races.

“That’s what we wanted from her, to make sure she would finish off her races and the way she finished off today was pretty super.”