Bushwood Stables' multiple Grade I winner Better Talk Now (Talkin Man–Bendita, by Baldski) was euthanized Tuesday night at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center due to complications from intestinal surgery resulting from colic. He was 18 years old.
A staple in American turf racing for the better part of a decade, the dark bay, almost black, gelding won nine graded stakes over five seasons from ages four to eight. His defining score came in a 27-1 upset of Kitten's Joy (El Prado {Ire}) in the 2004 GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Lone Star, giving trainer Graham Motion and jockey Ramon Dominguez their first Breeders' Cup victories (video). His last graded triumph came in the 2007 GI Manhattan H., but he also placed in multiple Grade I's at ages nine and ten before being retired to due a hind suspensory injury in September of 2009 with earnings of $4,356,664.
“He displayed the same toughness fighting his final battle as he did when showing his special talents on the track that won him so many fans in the racing world,” owner Brent Johnson said in a statement. “We want to thank Better Talk Now for giving us and our families some of the greatest and most joyous experiences of our lives. It was truly a gift to be associated with such an amazing equine athlete and to enjoy an incredible eight racing seasons watching his talent flourish. He took us places few ever get to go, and we will be forever grateful to have had him in our lives.”
Better Talk Now, known as Blackie to his caretakers, lived out his retirement at Graham and Anita Motion's Herringswell Stables at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland.
“Blackie came to Fair Hill as a 3-year-old in 2002 and never left us,” Herringswell's Maggie Kimmitt wrote in a tribute on the stable's website Wednesday. “A small group of us spent last evening with him, and Ramon and his wife Sharon joined us via Facetime. So many stories were shared. There were a great many tears shed, but just as many smiles. We'll miss having a champion of his magnitude in our daily lives. But what a trip it's been.”
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