Speaking Of Which and Pat Smullen win at The Curragh© Photo Healy Racing
Dermot Weld's decision to bypass the 2,000 Guineas with Speaking Of Which in favour of more staying trips, may well pay dividends in the long term and his colt bolted up in the Airlie Stud Gallinule Stakes (Group 3) at The Curragh today.
Returned a 7/1 chance, the son of Invincible Spirit was sent to the front by Pat Smullen under two furlong out and kept going further clear until reaching the line, nine lengths clear of runner-up Soon
Weld was understandably impressed and later stated “we had toyed with running Speaking Of Which in yesterday's 2,000 Guineas but we put a visor on him the other morning and it woke him up and sharpened him up - the further he went, the better he went.
“He's a big idle horse and the visor was on him just to help him concentrate. We did it years ago with Go And Go (Belmont Stakes winner) and when he put the blinkers on, it transformed him and the same with Brief Truce in the St James' Palace Stakes.
“Speaking Of Which may be a horse to go a mile and a half and while he is big and immature, he's like a lot of those big horses in that when they start to improve you don't know where they're going to finish.
“He did it very well today and will come back here at the end of June (for the Irish Derby). He's a big progressive colt ad there'a a lot to look forward to.”
