Better Talk Now (February 25, 1999 – June 27, 2017) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the Breeders' Cup Turf in 2004. His racing career stretched over nine seasons, during which he won 14 times, five of them Grade I stakes, with earnings of over $4.3 million.
Background
Better Talk Now was a nearly black gelding bred in Kentucky by Wimborne Farm. His sire Talkin Man, the 1994 Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, was in turn sired by With Approval, the 1989 Canadian Triple Crown Champion and a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee. Better Talk Now was out of the stakes-placed mare Bendita, by Baldski, a son of English Triple Crown Champion Nijinsky. Bendita is from the family of Folle Nuit, which also includes major winners Stage Door Johnny, Vision d'Etat and Shaamit.
As a weanling, Better Talk Now failed to meet his reserve at the Keenland November 1999 Sale of Breeding Stock. He originally raced for Wimborne Farm and was trained by Diane Perkins. In mid 2002 just after his first win, he was privately purchased by Bushwood Racing Partners, consisting of Brent Johnson, Karl Barth, and Chris Dwyer, who transferred him to trainer Graham Motion.
Better Talk Now, nicknamed "Blackie", spent most of the rest of his life at Motion's Herringswell Stables, part of the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. Jockey Ramon Dominguez, who rode him in many of his biggest races, described him as "very consistent but also a problem child" as he could be obstinate and aggressive, and tended to "lug in" (move towards the rail instead of maintaining a straight path).
Racing career
Better Talk Now made only one start at age two, finishing a badly beaten tenth in a 7-furlong maiden special weight on the dirt at Keeneland on October 21, 2001. He returned on April 7 in a similar race at Keeneland but could only finish sixth. After a brief layoff, he finished second in two races at Churchill Downs in June, both at miles on the dirt. On July 6, he was switched to turf and responded with a nine length win. Moved to the barn of trainer Graham Motion, Better Talk Now made five more starts at age three, winning two allowance races. He finished a distant sixth though in his first graded stakes effort, the Saranac Handicap.
At age four, Better Talk Now continued to improve, winning three of seven races with one second and two third-place finishes. On January 18, 2003, he won an allowance race at Gulfstream Park by a neck. That summer, he won the Eight Thirty Stakes at Delaware Park by a neck and then was beaten by a neck in the Arlington Handicap. Motion blamed the loss on the horse's tendency to lug in during the stretch run, so subsequently fitted Better Talk Now with a full cup blinker over his left eye. He responded by earning his first graded stakes race win on November 1, capturing the Knickerbocker Handicap at New York's Aqueduct Racetrack and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 101.
2004
At age five, he developed into a high quality, if inconsistent, turf horse, especially in races run at miles. His first two starts were not promising as he finished eighth in the John B. Connally Breeders' Cup Turf Handicap on April 10, 2004 and ninth in the Dixie Stakes on May 15. On June 12, he improved to finish second in the Battlefield Stakes, followed up by another second in the Bowling Green Handicap on July 17.
On August 14, he had a breakthrough performance in the Grade I Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap at a distance of miles over a yielding turf course at Saratoga. The favorite, Balto Star, went to the early lead and set moderate fractions for the first mile, then was passed in the stretch by Request For Parole. Better Talk Now saved ground early in the race then swung wide in the stretch and accelerated rapidly, winning by lengths. "I felt like I had a lot of horse," said Dominguez, "but once you get them out, you never know if they're going to respond. When I got him out, he responded so nicely." Better Talk Now earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 106 for the win.
Better Talk Now was next entered in the Man o' War Stakes at Belmont on September 11, where he finished fourth behind Magistretti. In part due to that loss, he was dismissed at odds of 28-1 in the Breeders' Cup Turf, held that year at Lone Star Park on October 30. Because of the expected heat and the tight turns of Lone Star's turf course, most European horses bypassed the event. The only European entry was Powerscourt, who had been disqualified after winning the Arlington Million. The heavy favorite was Kitten's Joy, who had won six of his seven starts during 2004 including the Secretariat Stakes and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.