Western Australia's hopes in the Group 1 $1 million Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville on Saturday rest squarely on the shoulders of the promising three-year-old filly Talkanco, who will take on older rivals while carrying a featherweight 51.5kg.
The daughter of I'm All The Talk appears primed for a strong performance following a career-best effort in last month's Quokka at Ascot, where she finished third behind seasoned campaigners Jigsaw and Rey Magnerio.
"She was fantastic in the Quokka. We had a few dramas leading up to it in the final 24 hours, but obviously the right call was made there by everyone involved and she ran a fantastic race," co-trainer Dan Pearce told SEN.
Pearce, who trains alongside his brother Ben, faced a last-minute dilemma before the Quokka when Talkanco presented lame on the eve of the race.
"She was perfect until Friday morning, when she came up lame," Pearce said. "We had conversations with the vets and the stewards, and they gave us the time to try and work through that. She came out the other side of it, we got her up to the races, and she had two vet checks when we got her up to the course and she was sound as a bell."
"She also pulled up 100 per cent from that as well, so that makes you feel that she was well and truly over it by the time the race was run, and the performance would indicate that as well. We were very close to scratching but if you scratch from there, you go to the paddock and you're not rolling around thinking you're a chance in a Group 1 tomorrow, so hopefully things happen for a reason."
With three weeks between runs, the bay filly has had ample time to recover but has also faced a significant journey to secure her place in Saturday's field.
"She hasn't done a huge amount. She had a fair bit of travel to do, so she's had a couple of tick-over gallops," Pearce said. "She flew across to Victoria on Monday and spent a bit of time at Archie Alexander's place in Ballarat. He's got a beautiful property there that she settled into really well."
"She's travelled up last night (Thursday) and stabled at Morphettville. She went to the beach this morning and Ben's really happy with her. The good thing with her is she just doesn't miss a feed. Every photo Ben has sent me of her is of her backside with her head in a feed bin. That's going to help her a lot with adjusting to not just one, but two environments. Ben's really, really happy with her."
Already an earner of $1.15 million, Talkanco ($8.50) follows a similar path to fellow WA representative Super Smink ($20), who bolstered WA's stocks with a first-up victory at Morphettville four weeks ago.
"We've followed exactly what Danny (Morton) did with Super Smink when she won first-up. The only difference is we've gone to Ballarat and he went to Flemington," Pearce said.
"We figured we train off course and Archie's place at Ballarat was probably a better fit for us and is an hour and a half up the highway towards Adelaide, so it's cut down on her travel she did. She always runs a good race and I'm sure tomorrow will be no exception."
Although three-year-old fillies are highly competitive in this race and Talkanco's rider Lucy Fiore will supply only 51.5kg, few have managed to win. Despite horses like Stretan Angel, Instant Celebrity, Lonhro's Lyre, I'll Have A Bit and Missrock all coming close to saluting in the last seven years, only two horses of her age and sex have won the Goodwood in the past 35 years. However, the most recent was Royal Merchant in 2023.
