Better Talk Now: A career to be saluted

October 6, 2:19 AMHorse Racing ExaminerRobin Bush

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Better Talk Now, with trainer
Graham Motion, sporting his
one-cup blinker.  Photo courtesy
Wendy Uzelac

With an action-packed weekend of Breeders’ Cup prep races just completed, fans and experts are quite justly focusing most of their attention on the upcoming championship events. But a story that shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle is that of the recent retirement of the old warhorse Better Talk Now. A fixture in the top American turf races for the past six seasons, it seems that the grass division just won’t be the same without that dependable late kick from the leggy black horse. Though he won’t go down as one of the greats, Better Talk Now has been one of the toughest and most beloved American racehorses in recent years.

Better Talk Now feeling his oats. Photo courtesy Wendy
Uzelac

With Better Talk Now’s good fortune as a youngster and throughout his career, he had every reason to be a terrific racehorse. Owned by Bushwood Stables and managed by trainer Graham Motion and his dedicated team, “Blackie” lived an enviable life by American racehorse standards. Instead of spending most of his time in a stall at a racetrack, Better Talk Now was based at the idyllic Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. There, he went for long walks around the countryside under saddle and was turned out in a paddock daily. He was definitely a happy horse, and possessed a huge personality. This didn’t mean he couldn’t be rough sometimes.

Better Talk Now looks sheepish with Herringswell Stables manager
Sue Kenny. Photo courtesy Wendy Uzelac

Under Motion’s patient tutelage, Better Talk Now was allowed all the time he needed to figure out the game. The often ornery horse could be challenging to handle and ride, even as he aged. As he rose to national prominence, Better Talk Now became notorious for lugging in during the stretch run, a habit that nearly resulted in disqualification from his greatest victory, the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf (VIDEO). In efforts to remedy the problem, Motion fit him with blinkers sporting a bizarre-looking single cup that nearly completely obscured his left eye. Even this didn’t always discourage the horse from leaning in, as evidenced that day in the Breeders’ Cup. He positively had a mind of his own. But despite his attitude and high energy, Better Talk Now very much relaxed in the early stages of his races. Under regular rider Ramon Dominguez, the lanky horse just wanted to sit back and watch early, and mow his competition down late. He couldn’t always get there, but his sensational turn of foot made him a fan favorite and earned him a total of 18 graded stakes wins and placings.

Better Talk Now didn’t even start to come into his own until the summer of his five-year-old season in 2004. Though a Grade 2 winner of the Knickerbocker Handicap the previous year, Better Talk Now matured into one of the top grass horses in the country as he captured the 2004 Sword Dancer (G1) and ran second in the Grade 2 Bowling Green. He then joined the elite list of Breeders’ Cup champions when he stunned Kitten’s Joy and Powerscourt in the Turf that fall. Off at odds of nearly 28-1, he paid $57.80 to win.

As a six-year-old, the gelding was as good as ever, while occasionally continuing his lugging habit. An impressive win in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy was followed by Grade 1 scores in the United Nations and Man O’ War Stakes (VIDEO), though he was a non-threatening seventh in an attempt to defend his Breeders’ Cup Turf title. As a seven-year-old in 2006, however, the veteran ran an ultra-tough second to European invader Red Rocks in the Turf, falling short by just a half-length. The nearly black gelding had won a pair of Grade 2 races earlier in the year with his infamous late surge, including the Sky Classic Stakes in Toronto.

The passage of a racing Thoroughbred from age seven to eight is a major one. The list of Grade 1 winners aged eight and up is quite short. But Better Talk Now, in one of his most thrilling career performances, joined that roster in June of 2007. Against a tough Manhattan Handicap (VIDEO) field that included future Breeders’ Cup Turf winner and turf champion English Channel, the black horse outkicked the latter and rising star Shakis to snatch a nose victory along the rail. The blanket four-horse finish was one of the most memorable of the season.

Though the Manhattan proved to be Better Talk Now’s final win, he never ceased to be a threat in the country’s major turf races. He was third in the 2007 U.N. Stakes, and managed a second and third in Grade 1s as a nine-year-old. By 2009, having run straight as an arrow in the stretch for some time now, “Blackie” was finally able to shed his single-cup blinker. Incredibly entering his ninth season on the track, Better Talk Now had become the ultimate professional. The ten-year-old warrior proved he could still show horses half his age how it’s done. He finished his career with a fast-closing third in this year’s Manhattan and a second in the Sword Dancer. Rarely has a horse in the history of the sport competed with such power and success at that age.

Fans were robbed of one last chance to see their favorite in action when he tore a suspensory ligament last week. He was to be retired following a start in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on October 3. He leaves the track with 14 wins, eight seconds, and five third-place finishes from 51 lifetime starts. He won $4,356,664—all but a fraction of which was earned on grass. Better Talk Now captured five Grade 1 races and four additional graded stakes, with nine other graded placings and a listed stakes win. He competed at tracks all over the United States and raced in three other countries—Canada, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. He tied the record for most Breeders’ Cup starts set by Perfect Drift and the late Kona Gold, with five runs in the Turf from 2004 to 2008. He ran at least once from 2001 to 2009, and in graded company from 2003 to this year—ages four to ten. A remarkable horse indeed.

Though he wasn’t always the best on a particular day, the charismatic Better Talk Now gave his team and the fans all they could have asked for every time—his very best. He loved his life and loved his job, as his longevity and memorable performances attest to. His entire team is to be commended for their brilliant work with the horse. Now, he joins Commentator as long-lived favorites to have just left the track behind. They will both be badly missed, though fans can be confident that they each will have enviable retirements. If American racing is graced with more horses like Better Talk Now and more horsemen such as those at Motion’s Herringswell Stables, the sport just might make it yet.

For more info:

Better Talk Now retired after injury

Better Talk Now lifetime statistics