Better Talk Now
Encyclopedia
Better Talk Now is an American
Thoroughbred
racehorse
. Out of the mare
Bendita, his damsire Baldski is a son of English Triple Crown Champion Nijinsky
. Better Talk Now's sire was Talkin Man
, the 1994 Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Colt
who in turn is a son of With Approval
, the 1989 Canadian Triple Crown Champion and a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
inductee.
As a weanling, Better Talk Now was sold for a bargain $10,500 at Keenland's November Sale of Breeding Stock. Racing from a base at Fair Hill Training Center
in Maryland
, his conditioning was handled by Graham Motion
. He made one start at age two but finished off the board. As a three-year-old in 2002, he made nine starts, winning three times and finishing second twice. At age four, Better Talk Now began to win Graded stakes race
s, capturing the Knickerbocker Handicap
at New York's
Aqueduct Racetrack
.
By age five, he developed into a top turf horse in the United States, especially in races run at 1½ miles. He won the Grade I Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap
and in the biggest win of his career, won the 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf
over a field that included the heavy betting
favorite Kitten's Joy
and third-place finisher Powerscourt
. The win was the first in a Breeders' Cup
race for both jockey Ramon Dominguez
and trainer Graham Motion.
In 2005, the six-year-old Better Talk Now continued to win Grade I races, taking the United Nations Stakes and Man o' War Stakes
before finishing seventh in the Breeders' Cup Turf and twelfth in the Japan Cup
. Back on the track in 2006, Better Talk Now won the Dixie Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
and the Sky Classic Stakes
in a three-way photo finish at Woodbine Racetrack
before finishing a very close second in his third Breeders' Cup Turf appearance.
In 2007, the eight-year-old gelding won the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap
by a head over arch rival English Channel
. In the ensuing Grade I United Nations Stakes in July, a race Better Talk Now won in 2005, English Channel came out on top with Better Talk Now taking third place. An injury to his left front ankle became infected, and resulting soreness kept him out of racing until he ran fourth in October's Breeders' Cup Turf race. In March 2008, Better Talk Now ran ninth in the Dubai Sheema Classic
. His rabbit of 2004-2005, Shake the Bank, retired from racing in 2008 and has begun a career as a jumper in Maryland.
Better Talk Now began his 10 year-old season with a third-place finish in the Manhattan Handicap on June 6, 2009. He finished second in the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap at Saratoga in August. He was planned to start in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on October 3, but was retired on September 29, 2009, after injuring the suspensory ligament in his left hind leg.
Better Talk Now made 51 starts, finishing with 14 wins and 27 in the money finishes and career earnings of $4,356,664. He started in 41 stakes races, including 24 grade I races.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
. Out of the mare
Mare (horse)
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...
Bendita, his damsire Baldski is a son of English Triple Crown Champion Nijinsky
Nijinsky II
The racehorse Nijinsky was one of the greatest horses in Thoroughbred horse-racing history. He won the U.K. Triple Crown of racing. Retired to stud he became the Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland and the Leading broodmare sire in North America.He was bred at E. P...
. Better Talk Now's sire was Talkin Man
Talkin Man
Talkin Man is a Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Ontario by two of that country's leading owner/breeders, Arthur and Helen Stollery's Angus Glen Farm and Bud Willmot's Kinghaven Farms....
, the 1994 Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Colt
Sovereign Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Male Horse
The Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Coltis a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing honor. Created in 1975 by the Jockey Club of Canada, it is part of the Sovereign Awards program and is awarded annually to the top 2-Year-Old male Thoroughbred horse competing in Canada.Past winners: -References:*...
who in turn is a son of With Approval
With Approval
With Approval was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Canadian Triple Crown in 1989 under jockey Don Seymour. He finished second in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Turf and the Arlington Million....
, the 1989 Canadian Triple Crown Champion and a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada....
inductee.
As a weanling, Better Talk Now was sold for a bargain $10,500 at Keenland's November Sale of Breeding Stock. Racing from a base at Fair Hill Training Center
Fair Hill Training Center
Fair Hill Training Center is a racehorse training center based in Fair Hill, Maryland. It was owned by William duPont, Jr. of the well-known Dupont family who bought the land in 1926. Dupont invested a substantial amount of money to make the property a leading breeding and training farm for his...
in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, his conditioning was handled by Graham Motion
H. Graham Motion
H. Graham Motion is an American horse trainer, notable for his work with 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom and Better Talk Now. Motion started out training and winning with his own Thoroughbred horses at age 29, his first win was with Bounding Daisy in March 1993 at Laurel Park...
. He made one start at age two but finished off the board. As a three-year-old in 2002, he made nine starts, winning three times and finishing second twice. At age four, Better Talk Now began to win Graded stakes race
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
s, capturing the Knickerbocker Handicap
Knickerbocker Handicap
The Knickerbocker Handicap is an American Grade III race on turf for Thoroughbred horses run each year at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York. The Knickerbocker is open to three-year-olds and up, and set at a distance of one mile and one furlong...
at New York's
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack is a thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.-History:...
.
By age five, he developed into a top turf horse in the United States, especially in races run at 1½ miles. He won the Grade I Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap
Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap
The Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap is an American race for thoroughbred horses, aged three and up, run annually in mid August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. A prep for the Breeders' Cup Turf, it is set at a distance of one and one-half miles on the turf...
and in the biggest win of his career, won the 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf
Breeders' Cup Turf
The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current title sponsor is Emirates Airlines.The forerunner...
over a field that included the heavy betting
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...
favorite Kitten's Joy
Kitten's Joy
Kitten's Joy is an American Thoroughbred racehorse by the Sadler's Wells stallion El Prado out of the Lear Fan mare Kitten's First. Kitten's Joy is owned and bred by Ken and Sarah Ramsey...
and third-place finisher Powerscourt
Powerscourt
Powerscourt may refer to:*Viscount Powerscourt, title in the Irish peerage*Powerscourt Estate, County Wicklow, Ireland**Powerscourt Golf Club, on the estate*Powerscourt Waterfall, the highest waterfall in Ireland, near the estate...
. The win was the first in a Breeders' Cup
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Thoroughbred horse races, most but not all Grade I, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. The location...
race for both jockey Ramon Dominguez
Ramon A. Dominguez
Ramon A. Dominguez is an Eclipse Award-winning champion jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing....
and trainer Graham Motion.
In 2005, the six-year-old Better Talk Now continued to win Grade I races, taking the United Nations Stakes and Man o' War Stakes
Man O' War Stakes
The Man o' War Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Now Raced in July, it is a Grade I event offering a purse of $500,000 and is open to horses three-years-old and up. Run at one and three-eighths mile on the grass, the race sometimes attracts top European horses...
before finishing seventh in the Breeders' Cup Turf and twelfth in the Japan Cup
Japan Cup
The is the most prestigious horse race run in Japan. It is contested at the end of November at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters over the grass. With a purse of ¥476 million , the Japan Cup is one of the richest races in the world.The Japan Cup is an invitational event...
. Back on the track in 2006, Better Talk Now won the Dixie Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
Pimlico Race Course
Pimlico Race Course is a horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of Olde Ben Pimlico's Tavern in London...
and the Sky Classic Stakes
Sky Classic Stakes
The Sky Classic Stakes is a Canadian Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Raced in mid to late September on turf over a distance of 1¼ miles , it is open to horses three years of age and older...
in a three-way photo finish at Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...
before finishing a very close second in his third Breeders' Cup Turf appearance.
In 2007, the eight-year-old gelding won the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap
Manhattan Handicap
The Manhattan Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race raced annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is named for Manhattan, the principal borough of the City of New York...
by a head over arch rival English Channel
English Channel (horse)
English Channel is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Owned by James T. Scatuorchio and bred by Keene Ridge Farm, he was sired by Smart Strike out of the Theatrical mare Belva. In four years of racing, he competed in twenty three races, winning thirteen, finishing second in four, and finishing...
. In the ensuing Grade I United Nations Stakes in July, a race Better Talk Now won in 2005, English Channel came out on top with Better Talk Now taking third place. An injury to his left front ankle became infected, and resulting soreness kept him out of racing until he ran fourth in October's Breeders' Cup Turf race. In March 2008, Better Talk Now ran ninth in the Dubai Sheema Classic
Dubai Sheema Classic
The Dubai Sheema Classic is a Group 1 flat horse race in the United Arab Emirates open to thoroughbreds which are four-years-old or above. It is run over a distance of 2,400 metres on the turf track at Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, and it takes place annually during the Dubai World Cup Night in...
. His rabbit of 2004-2005, Shake the Bank, retired from racing in 2008 and has begun a career as a jumper in Maryland.
Better Talk Now began his 10 year-old season with a third-place finish in the Manhattan Handicap on June 6, 2009. He finished second in the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap at Saratoga in August. He was planned to start in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on October 3, but was retired on September 29, 2009, after injuring the suspensory ligament in his left hind leg.
Better Talk Now made 51 starts, finishing with 14 wins and 27 in the money finishes and career earnings of $4,356,664. He started in 41 stakes races, including 24 grade I races.