Champagne: Talkin is another promising Good Magic colt
It’s Our Time is the talk of the Grade 1 Champagne ahead of the race Saturday at Aqueduct, but Danny Gargan likes what he sees in Talkin, who won his debut at Saratoga last out for the trainer.
“I love him,” Gargan told Horse Racing Nation on Monday. “I think he's a good horse. He's a sweetheart. He's a really, really smart, really intelligent horse.”
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Talkin won by a neck at Saratoga on Aug. 30 going seven furlongs. He overtook runner-up Stradale, a Steve Asmussen trainee who also is entered in the Champagne, a win-and-you're-in for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
“Obviously he's a two-turn horse,” Gargan said of Talkin. “We thought he'd need a race, personally, and he showed up and won anyway. We know he's going to get better with distance.”
It doesn’t hurt that Talkin is by Good Magic, who also sired Dornoch, winner of last year's Belmont Stakes and Haskell (G1) and Gargan’s best horse yet.
“If you're going to beat Dornoch, you've got to do a lot more, but he's better than all the rest of them I've had,” Gargan said. “He's better than Dubyuhnell and Society Man and all those. He's a lot better than them. I like his temperament better than Dornoch's. Dornoch kind of had to be up on the engine. But they both have that fight and desire.
“He wants to pass horses all day, but he'll sit still and he doesn't mind dirt in his face. You can't say anybody's as good as Dornoch, but he's definitely got things that we like about him. There's qualities I like that he has that are better than some qualities Dornoch had. He's more versatile. He doesn't have to be in front. He can lay off of it. He can relax. He doesn't mind dirt in his face. He's a pretty cool horse.”
Talkin has been training at Saratoga, most recently breezing four furlongs in 49.0 seconds Sunday. He’ll ship to Aqueduct on Saturday. Kendrick Carmouche, who rode the colt in his debut, has the mount, and they drew post 9 on the outside.
Owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding and R.A. Hill Stable, Talkin was a $600,000 purchase at the Keeneland September yearling sale. “He looks just like Dornoch but smaller,” Gargan said. “He's got the same eye. Same markings. Same hip. Same shoulder. He's just not as tall. But as a baby they resembled each other a whole lot. … And he's a beautiful mover, he doesn't waste any action.”
As for what to expect in the one-mile Champagne, Gargan said, “the distance, he's good. If it was a mile and sixteenth, I'd be really confident. I think there's enough speed in our race where he can sit back in fourth or fifth. Asmussen's horse is fast. I think (It’s Our Time) goes with him.”
But he knows It’s Our Time, trained by Tom Amoss, is the one to beat. “If he shows up and runs that race, we're probably all running for second-place money. But he's got to go out and run that race. We'll just have to see how that plays out.”
Still, “I think he's doing better going into this race than he was his first race. He's training really good. He looked great today. He was coming off the track bucking and swilling today. Other than Tom, I wouldn't trade positions with anybody.”