Breeders' Cup Legends: Better Talk Now

Better Talk Now wins the 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf, his first of five runs in the Breeders' Cup. (Photo by HorsePhotos)
Every once in a while a racehorse will come along that brings to mind the iron horses of the early 20th century—a durable, tough, top-class performer. Better Talk Now is one of those horses.
Better Talk Now ran in 51 races over a nine-year career. He won the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf, was second in the 2006 running, and also competed in the 2005, 2007 and 2008 editions. His career earnings total more than $4.3 million.
The gelding did not appear headed for such prodigious success early on. By Talkin Man and out of the Baldski mare Bendita, his modest pedigree was likely a factor when he failed to meet his reserve with a final bid of just $10,500 as a weanling in the 1999 Keeneland November Sale. He was withdrawn from two later sales, and his breeder Wimborne Farm decided to race him.
Better Talk Now debuted in 10th place in a maiden special weight race late in his 2-year-old year. He finally won his first race in a July 2002 maiden, his fifth start. The gelding displayed a propensity for turf, romping by nine lengths in what was his first run on the grass, and the victory was impressive enough for Brent Johnson’s Bushwood Stables to buy the horse privately and send him to trainer Graham Motion.
The dark brown 3-year-old was sent to Fair Hill, where he was affectionately nicknamed “Blackie.” He gradually transitioned to stakes competition and his first graded stakes victory came in the Grade 2 Knickerbocker Handicap in his final start as a 4-year-old. It was a sign of things to come.
Better Talk Now kept good company throughout his 5-year-old season. He ran exclusively in stakes and tallied his first Grade 1 win in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga that summer. A fourth-place finish in the Man o’ War Stakes would set the gelding up for a run in his first Breeders’ Cup Turf.
When the day’s eighth race finally arrived, Motion was not worried about Better Talk Now’s impending performance. After all, the trainer already had second- and fourth-place finishes in Breeders’ Cup races that day at Lone Star Park and realized what long odds the team would have to overcome.
“By the time his race came around, we were relaxed and enjoying the day, having a good time,” Motion said in an interview with the Daily Racing Form. “He was 27-1 and we never imagined he’d get up and win.”
But get up and win was exactly what he did. Sent off as the longest shot in the field of eight, Better Talk Now found the yielding turf to his liking and turned in an electrifying performance in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Regular rider Ramon Dominguez took the gelding back to last in the early going before launching a bid nearing the quarter pole. The pair swept by the leaders and won by 1 ¾ lengths over heavily favored Kitten’s Joy, a horse who would go on to be named champion turf horse and eventually become a leading sire.
 2004 BREEDERS' CUP TURF

Video courtesy of Breeders' Cup World Championships
Better Talk Now had what may have been his best season in 2005 thanks in part to stablemate Shake the Bank. Bushwood Stable acquired Shake the Bank prior to the United Nations Stakes to act as a pacemaker for Better Talk Now. Shake the Bank set the pace in that race and opened up a 15-length lead with three-eighths of a mile remaining. When he tired, Better Talk Now closed from ninth to add another Grade 1 tally to his resume.
Shake the Bank was back for Better Talk Now’s run in the Man o’ War. The speedy gelding again ran to plan, jumping out to an 8 length lead before relinquishing it with three-eighths remaining. Better Talk Now surged past, again closing from ninth to win by a head and score his fourth Grade 1 win.
Competitors took notice of the Bushwood Stable team and they wouldn’t fall for it in the 2005 edition of the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Shake the Bank had a seven-length lead but the others relaxed early, knowing that the gelding would tire. Tire he did, but Better Talk Now was not able to close the gap and wound up seventh of 13.
Shake the Bank helped Better Talk Now win the Dixie Stakes to start off the 2006 season but the pair’s remarkable string of success would not again be duplicated. Better Talk Now found the winner’s circle in the Sky Classic at Woodbine in his final Breeders’ Cup prep of the year.
After a less-than-stellar season, Better Talk Now was once again a longshot when they entered the gate for the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Dominguez and Better Talk Now rated with just one horse beaten until commencing a rally on the final turn. Better Talk Now ran by 11 of his competitors but could not catch the winner, finishing second to Red Rocks by a half-length at odds of 18.60-to-1. 
2006 BREEDERS' CUP TURF
 
Video courtesy of Breeders' Cup World Championships
In 2007 Better Talk Now won the Grade 1 Manhattan and finished third in the Grade 1 United Nations before a fourth-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Turf to wrap up a four-race season restricted to Grade 1 stakes. Better Talk Now would not win another race but continued to be competitive at the highest level, with a third and a second in the 2008 Man o’ War and Sword Dancer, respectively, and another second and third in the 2009 editions of the Manhattan Handicap and Sword Dancer as a 10-year-old.
Better Talk Now suffered a suspensory ligament injury while preparing for the 2009 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park and was retired to live as a pet in the barn of his trainer. Motion and his wife Anita have a special attachment to the horse, and after his injury healed he was thrown a retirement party with 100 guests.
“[Better Talk Now] was so successful and he was so much part of my success that I felt tremendously responsible for him when his career was over,” Motion said. “Anita and I always said that when he was retired, he’d always have a place with us.”
Better Talk Now enjoyed the racetrack routine he knew for eight years of racing, and today he still lives at Fair Hill Training Center in Motion’s barn. The now-15-year-old gelding is exercised each morning before being turned out with his pal Gala Spinaway, Motion’s first stakes winner. The pair enjoys paddock time all morning where they watch horses head to and from the track. Better Talk Now can still be as hard to handle as he was throughout his career but the ‘cantankerous’ gelding thrives on his routine.
BETTER TALK NOW AND GALA SPINAWAY IN RETIREMENT

Photo by Maggie Kimmitt
Motion has gone on to saddle many other top horses, including 2011 Kentucky Derby and 2013 Dubai World Cup champion Animal Kingdom, 2010 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Shared Account and three-time Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf-placed Film Maker. Even with his success, Motion still admires Better Talk Now and gives him credit for the career boost that pushed him to the top of the game.
“He was incredibly generous. He was such a hard-trying, hard-knocking racehorse and from my career point of view, he took me to a new level,” Motion said. “When he won the Breeders’ Cup [Turf]; that was what really sold me to international owners and I think that is sort of when our stable turned a corner.”
Better Talk Now is the winner of 10 stakes, including five at the Grade 1 level. In all he captured 14 races and placed in another 13 during his 51-race career. While he may not have had the impressive strings of victories that some horses have, Better Talk Now consistently performed at the top level of the sport and his class, determination and longevity truly set him apart.