Stadium Talk defies market drift to win readily

Totally friendless in the market at 28/1, Stadium Talk bounced back from a disappointing hurdling debut to run out an emphatic winner of the three-mile mares' maiden hurdle at Wexford.

The Soldier Of Fortune five-year-old won a bumper at Hexham in May but was tailed off on her first run over flights at Down Royal the following month.

She was a different proposition here under Ben Harvey and was handy all the way before putting her stamp on the race heading to the second-last. From that point she stayed on strongly to beat Silent Approach by 15 lengths.

John McConnell trains the winner for the 119 Partnership.

Harvey said: "She is a lovely filly and I won a bumper on her a couple of months ago at Hexham. We quite liked her performance that day but she then disappointed at Down Royal where she burst.

"She didn't show any signs of it before the race or since, so we were confident coming here today. She relaxes really well and jumps and is a proper staying chaser in the making.

"She has done nothing wrong bar the day in Down Royal and you can excuse that run. She is a point-to-point winner and has a good pedigree too, so she is a nice prospect to have.

"Originally we were going to take a lead, but I rang John just before the race and said I might go on because I didn't think there would be a whole lot of pace. It worked out well.

"I felt she was having a good look in front too, so hopefully there is more to come from her."

Quotes from Donal Murphy