Fast Talking, partnered with jockey Greg Ryan, settled in deep and stormed home to take the win by a head after battling with the Cameron Crockett trained Golden Avenger and Nestor couldn't have been happier with how the winner performed in his first start back from a spell.

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"He just ended up in the right spot, that other horse I had the race, Risk or Reward, there was a fair bot of pressure on him, but Cameron's horse peeled out and Greg was lucky enough to be sitting just on the back of him," Nestor told Sky Racing immediately after the victory.

While there's still plenty of time between now and a now almost certain Country Championships heat appearance in Coonamble down the road, Nestor's happy to let the gelding rest until them.

"He's not a bad horse this fella'. The hardest thing is going to be keeping him fresh and keeping him on his toes, he won't be doing much between now and Coonamble."

Ryan said the biggest barrier for the five year old was going to be the distance, after concerns were raised about the length of the run not being enough to let the strong finisher work.

""He got a good draw, the biggest concern before the race was whether the 1200 was going to be too short for him," Ryan said.

"He didn't posie up too far from them, on straightening it was just a matter of me biding my time as to see what opportunity was going to arise to get out and there was a half a run on the rail, half a run on between runners."

The veteran found his opening when Golden Avenger got the lead out, providing an opening for Ryan and Fast Talking to shoot around the back and battle down the straight out in the open.

"I waited a little longer until Hughy [Bowman] got going on Cameron's horse, as soon as he let me across his heels to guarantee the run to the outside, as soon as I established a run to the outside of Hughy's house, he was as good as home, he was very strong," Ryan said.

While Fast Talking showed plenty of spirit to kick along that final stretch, there was also a bit too much fire in the leadup, with the horse proving difficult to control before the race began in earnest.

"Only complication was that he was hard to get into the barriers, he will go to the Western Districts Championships now and that's the be biggest concern," Ryan said.

"If he gets any luck, he'll be very difficult to beat."

"The way he behaved in the barriers today is a bit of a concern, he was very close to getting scratched for refusing to load, but if he goes in, he'll be extremely hard to beat."

Risk and Reward was Nestor's other entrant in the race, finishing up in fourth,while the favourite didn't place in his third start for Nestor, he still saw plenty of promise.

"Risk and reward was really good, don't worry about that, he copped pressure, but his run was really good."