Jospeh O'Brien ready to walk the walk with Talk The Talk
Exciting five-year-old Talk The Talk goes for Joseph O'Brien in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. Pic: Healy Racing
Joseph O’Brien has packed an awful lot into his 32 years but this week's Cheltenham Festival provides an opportunity to break new ground by saddling a first Festival Grade One winner.
O’Brien’s five Festival wins have come from two races, three in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, two in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.
Now he has his sights set on Supreme Novices’ Hurdle glory with Talk The Talk, an exciting five-year-old who would be bringing a blemish-free record over hurdles to Cheltenham had he not stumbled after the last with a Leopardstown Grade One at his mercy at Christmas.
He returned to the Foxrock venue for another Grade One last month where he did something almost no other horse managed to do at this year’s Dublin Racing Festival: Come from off the pace on heavy ground to win.
King Rasko Grey and Ballyfad, the two horses in front of him jumping the last, are talented operators too so reeling them in was a seriously smart performance from Talk The Talk.
“Off the back of a fall at Christmas, it was important that he found a nice rhythm through the early stages of the race,” O’Brien says of the rationale behind the way Talk The Talk was ridden by JJ Slevin.
“We wanted to ride him patiently to do that and we knew that tactically it probably wasn’t going to be the place to be given the way the race was likely to set up. That did prove to be the case but he managed to get us out of trouble in a way. He probably exceeded our expectations really because we were ready to get beaten given how we were going to play our hand tactically.”
O’Brien sees Talk The Talk as a chaser down the line so part of the objective this season is to teach him how to race in the most efficient manner.
“He obviously has a lot of natural talent and we’re keen that we give him a chance to fulfil his potential through his career. This is his first season with us so we don’t want to over-face him, we want to ensure he learns how to race correctly at this early stage of his career. We were always going to take our time on him and get him in a rhythm early and have him relaxed. It would have been easy to jump out in front off a slow pace the last day and he might have won easier but we probably wouldn’t have taught him as much. Ultimately, we were able to do both things: Win and educate him.”
If Cheltenham 2026 represents just the start for Talk The Talk, it will likely be Home By The Lee’s final shot at Festival glory. Now an 11-year-old, Home By The Lee has run in the last four renewals of the Stayers’ Hurdle, finishing sixth in 2022, fifth a year later, third in 2024 before unseating his rider last year.
O’Brien believes last year was probably his best chance to win the Stayers’ but the horse showed he has lost none of his enthusiasm for the game when beating subsequent Grade Two Staffordshire Knot in the Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park in January, a performance owner Seán O’Driscoll described as “up there with one of his best performances, if not his best”.
O’Brien concurs with that assessment. “It was a good performance at Gowran. He was penalised and giving weight away to a good horse who has franked the form since so I would agree it’s fair to say he was at least as good as he has been in winning Grade Ones.
“At this stage of his career, and really throughout his career, stamina has been his forte and he hasn’t had a real slog at Cheltenham to be seen to his best. It looks like a strong division this year but he’ll go and I think he has a top four or five chance again.”
While O’Brien describes Home By The Lee as a yard favourite, he recalls a time when he had lost his way, prompting the trainer to suggest to the owner that a change of scenery might be advisable.
“I said to Seán: ‘This fella, he’s obviously a talented horse but he has lost his way and lost his confidence.’ My recommendation to Seán was to move him to a different stable as he needed to be rejuvenated because there was still plenty there.
“But Seán said: ‘Listen, you’ve had him all the way, do whatever you need to do to get him back.’ So we changed his training routine and he had a good holiday and he came back and went from strength to strength. So I have to thank Sean for giving us this second chance with him.
“It’s hugely satisfying but it’s also a measure of Seán, that that was his mindset. It’s a real pleasure to be training for people like that.”
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Having twice trained the winner of the Melbourne Cup and won a number of Group 1s on the Flat at home and abroad, O’Brien is better placed than most to assess Cheltenham’s global standing.
“It’s hard to beat a winner in Cheltenham anywhere in the world,” he insists. The Cheltenham Festival is the Olympics of the National Hunt racing game and people come from far and wide to see it. I know people who come from America and Australia to Cheltenham to see the best horses taking each other on in the best races. It’s as special as anywhere.
“I’ve always loved jumps racing and it’s a privilege to be able to train a good number of nice horses. Obviously the Flat is our main thing but it’s hard to beat being able to go to Cheltenham or Aintree or Leopardstown for those big festivals.”
