AFTER Talk The Talk’s final fence blunder at Christmas, JJ Slevin appeared to be avoiding any chance of déjà vu, as he left it late aboard Joseph O’Brien’s exciting five-year-old in the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle, but at one point it looked like he may have left it too late.

Storming home from the final flight, it looked to many like the chesnut hadn’t quite caught Ballyfad on the line, but was later declared a short-head winner over Gordon Elliott’s previously unbeaten charge. Willie Mullins’s leading hope King Rasko Grey finished half a length further back in third.

It was a perfectly executed plan according to O’Brien, who said: “We were always going to ride him pretty cold today and we said we might get beat because of that, but we were thinking of the horse’s long-term career.

“I thought at halfway there was no chance he was going to make up any ground because they hacked around. The second and third sat first and second the whole way, and we came from third last. It’s just a testament to the horse’s ability and also, J.J. made a key move to go from inside to out to get a clear, smooth passage home and, ultimately, that was the winning of the race for him.”

In a way, O’Brien believes what he described as a ‘frustrating’ loss at Christmas was the making of today’s performance. “You learn more from those experiences than when you win,” he explained.

“He overjumped it (the last) here a month ago and we obviously took steps to try and help him. A few people said he wasn’t a great jumper but he actually is a very good jumper. He didn’t come from point-to-pointing or France or anything like that.”

On Talk The Talk’s chances in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, O’Brien commented: “I suppose he’s probably going to be favourite now, so he’ll have a favourite’s chance.”

Owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, Talk The Talk is now three from four over hurdles, the Born To Sea gelding having placed in a valuable bumper on his only start for Stuart Crawford last season.