Enough Talk beats Lucky Jim in Titan prep

Enough Talk bounced back from his tough overseas campaign, where he finished seventh in an elimination for the Elitlopp, and beat rival Lucky Jim by two lengths in 1:51 in a prep for the Titan Cup on Friday night at the Meadowlands.

 

Enough Talk pounced off a pocket trip to take the $40,000 prep . Driver Ron Pierce sent Enough Talk straight to the lead before taking a backseat to Arch Madness past a 27.3 opening quarter. Arch Madness posted middle fractions of :55.1 and 1:23.3 before Enough Talk angled out and drew off to a two-length margin. After sitting fourth most of the mile, Lucky Jim moved to the outside entering the final turn and edged past Arch Madness for second. Sent off at 15-1, Enough Talk paid $33 to win the tenth race feature.

“My trip went perfectly,” Pierce said. “I left out of there and scooted around a couple of them to get to the lead. After the quarter in 27. 3, I let Arch Madness go. I just sat on his back, and my horse was trotting beautifully. I wasn’t sure anywhere in the mile if I was going to get by Arch Madness until I actually went by him. He’s such a good horse, but my horse, he was just awesome. He was perfect, straight as an arrow. Anytime you can get a two-hole trip following the one to beat in the race, and your horse is as good as this horse was, that’s all you can ask for.”

Enough Talk, trained by Peter Kleinhans, posted his 30th career win and first since returning from a three-race European campaign. The 2008 Older Trotter of the Year raced in the Elitlopp on May 30 in Sweden, but failed to reach the final after hitting his right knee during his elimination race. The 7-year-old son of Enjoy Lavec, who is co-owned by Kleinhans and Jerry Silva, has lifetime earnings of $1.2 million.

All eight starters in the prep race advance to the $200,000 Titan Cup final on Saturday, July 3. The field, in alphabetical order, is: Arch Madness, Buck I St Pat, Corleone Kosmos, Enough Talk, In Focus, Keystone Activator, Lanson and Lucky Jim.

 

Enough Talk was unable to race on Lasix in Sweden, but was back on the anti-bleeder medication here in the U.S. (Meadowlands)