Friday, April 24, 2009
Better Talk Now Begins Ninth Season in Closing-Day Fifth Third Elkhorn
Trainer Graham Motion had to laugh when he told a story about Bushwood Stables LLC’s Better Talk Now.
“Somebody asked me yesterday if he’s retired,” Motion said, “and I said, ‘No, he’s running tomorrow.”
Now 10, Better Talk Now – an earner of $4,216,664, a multiple Grade 1 winner who has competed in five consecutive runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) and won the race in 2004, and a winner of 14 races in 48 starts in the United States, Canada, Dubai and Japan – will make his 2009 debut in today’s Fifth Third Elkhorn (G2), a 1 ½-mile race worth $200,000.
“It was the best fit for him,” Motion said about choosing the stakes for the gelding by Talkin Man, who galloped on the main track on Friday morning with assistant Heather Craig aboard and kicked up his heels several times as he walked off the track.
“Normally, we’ve tried to bring him back in a shorter race than this, but it seems like as he gets older he’s just not as adept to shorter distances even though we could get away with it the first time he ran back,” Motion continued. “We just thought the mile and a half was a better fit this year.”
The Fifth Third Elkhorn drew a field of 12 horses, including multiple Grade 1 winner Champs Elysees (GB) and other accomplished veterans. Better Talk Now will break from post 5 with regular rider Ramon Dominguez aboard.
“It’s a very tough race; it’s a great race but that’s good,” Motion said. “There’s no easy spots when you’ve won as many races as (Better Talk Now) has. As long as he acts like he’s his old self and can be competitive in here, then we can go on to some other races this year.”
Better Talk Now’s next stop might be Belmont Park for the Woodford Reserve Manhattan (G1) on June 6, day of the Belmont Stakes (G1).
“We’re not going to keep him going if he doesn’t show us that he’s going to be competitive,” Motion said. “Right now, he’s in great form and I see know reason why he wouldn’t be competitive.”
SHEPPARD HORSES TAKE KEENELAND CREDENTIALS
ON TO NEXT DESTINATIONS
“We love it here,” said Barry Wiseman, assistant to trainer Jonathan Sheppard. And no wonder. On Thursday, Sheppard sent out Augustin Stable’s Winter View to score a last-to-first victory in the Grey Goose Bewitch (G3). The victory gave Sheppard his third stakes win of the Keeneland spring season and his fifth win overall with only nine starters. His stable has earned $509,725, second only to the $708,090 earned by horses trained by Bill Mott.
Sheppard’s other Keeneland stakes winners are Informed Decision, who won the Vinery Madison (G1) on April 9, and champion Forever Together, who won the Jenny Wiley (G2) on April 11. Both wins came in the horses’ 2009 debut. Both horses are owned by George Strawbridge Jr.’s Augustin Stable, which leads all Keeneland owners with six wins heading into the final day of the spring season.
While no plans for Winter View have been made, Wiseman said Informed Decision would head to Churchill Downs to make her next start in the Humana Distaff (G1) on the Kentucky Derby (G1) undercard. Another Churchill-bound runner is Just As Well, who is scheduled to run in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1), also on Derby Day. Just As Well was third in Keeneland’s Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) on April 10.
Forever Together is likely to make her next start at Belmont Park in the June 6 Just a Game (G1), in which she was third last year. Other horses who have raced at Keeneland during the spring season and have the Just a Game on their schedules are Diamondrella (GB), winner of the Giant’s Causeway, and Vinery Madison runner-up Ventura.
SIMULCAST RACING CONTINUES
AT KEENELAND
The close of the live meet doesn’t mean the end of racing action at Keeneland, which will offer a full schedule of simulcast racing beginning Saturday, April 25. Race fans can celebrate Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby Days at Keeneland on Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2.
During May, Keeneland will simulcast racing from Arlington, Belmont, Calder, Churchill Downs, Golden Gate, Hollywood Park, Louisiana Downs, Pimlico, Presque Isle, Thistledown/River Downs and Woodbine, among others.
2009 KEENELAND SPRING MEET LEADERS
(Stats Through Thursday, April 23)
Current Meet Leading Jockeys
Name Sts 1st 2nd 3rd Purses
Julien Leparoux 96 26 18 11 1,337,772
Kent Desormeaux 85 16 11 13 1,112,150
Garrett Gomez 50 12 9 9 826,098
John Velazquez 56 12 5 5 679,168
Rene Douglas 52 8 8 7 364,840
Miguel Mena 82 8 7 17 445,815
Jamie Theriot 54 7 4 5 284,805
Shaun Bridgmohan 55 7 3 4 277,865
Corey Lanerie 53 5 5 1 425,505
Robby Albarado 85 4 16 8 332,651
Edgar Prado 55 4 12 12 468,601
Current Meet Leading Trainers
Name Sts 1st 2nd 3rd Purses
Bill Mott 39 7 6 7 $708,090
Wesley Ward 18 6 5 1 202,080
Shug McGaughey 21 6 4 6 401,385
George Arnold II 24 6 2 3 236,775
Michael Maker 35 5 8 5 206,875
Todd Pletcher 24 5 2 2 413,920
Jonathan Sheppard 9 5 1 1 509,725
Steve Asmussen 22 4 2 3 161,045
Christophe Clement 12 3 3 3 187,988
Barclay Tagg 14 3 2 3 147,245
Ken McPeek 21 3 2 2 192,286
Ian Wilkes 18 3 2 2 144,020
Michael Matz 21 3 1 1 131,105
Tom Amoss 15 3 1 1 72,165
Robert Hess Jr. 8 3 1 1 79,070
Angel Penna Jr. 6 3 0 1 135,775
Current Meet Leading Owners
Name Wins
Augustin Stable (George Strawbridge Jr.) 6
WinStar Farm LLC (Bill Casner, et al) 5
Phipps Stable (Ogden Mills Phipps, et al) 4
Ken & Sarah Ramsey 4
Dixiana Stables Inc. (William Shively) 3
Heiligbrodt Racing Stable (Bill & Corrine Heiligbrodt) 3