Talkin Man

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Talkin Man
Sire With Approval
Grandsire Caro
Dam Pookette
Damsire Miswaki
Sex Stallion
Foaled 1992
Country Canada
Colour Dark Bay
Breeder Angus Glen Farm & Kinghaven Farms
Owner Helen G. Stollery & Kinghaven Farms & Peter Wall
Trainer Roger Attfield
Record 10: 5-1-0
Earnings $677,967
Major Racing Wins, Awards and Honours
Major Racing Wins
Swynford Stakes (1994)
Coronation Futurity Stakes (1994)
Grey Stakes (1994)
Gotham Stakes (1995)
Wood Memorial Stakes (1995)
Racing Awards
Canadian Champion 2-Year-Old Male Horse (1994)
Infobox last updated on: 22:33, Saturday June 14, 2008 (UTC).

Talkin Man (foaled 1992 in Canada) is a Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Ontario by two of that country's leading owner/breeders, Arthur and Helen Stollery's Angus Glen Farm and Bud Willmot's Kinghaven Farms.

A descendant of the very important sire Nearco, Talkin Man was out of the mare Pookette and sired by With Approval, the 1989 Canadian Triple Crown champion and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee. His damsire Miswaki, a two-time Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland, was a son of the very important American sire, Mr. Prospector.

Conditioned by Canadian Racing Hall of Fame trainer, Roger Attfield, Talkin Man had an excellent two-year-old campaign in Canada and was voted 1994 Canadian Champion 2-Year-Old Male Horse honors. In the fall, Talkin Man won the Grey Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto and was shipped to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky to run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Up against a strong field of American and European colts, he was sent off as a distant fifth choice at 11:1 betting odds in the mile and a sixteenth race. Six furlongs in, Talkin Man was running second in the thirteen-horse field and closing in on the leader but after turning for home faded badly and wound up tenth to winner Timber Country. Diagnosed with a lung infection, Talkin Man was sent to recover in southern Florida over the winter and then before spring to a training base at Keeneland Race Course.

Shipped to Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York, on March 25th, Talkin Man established himself as a potential contender for the May, 1995 Kentucky Derby. Ridden by Mike Smith, he scored an impressive seven-length win over Da Hoss in the Gotham Stakes then put on another performance under jockey Shane Sellers with a dominating seven-and three-quarters-length win in the Wood Memorial Stakes that The New York Times described as "perhaps the most impressive performance by a 3-year-old colt this year."

A week before the Kentucky Derby, owners Helen Stollery and Kinghaven Farms sold a one-third interest in Talkin Man to Vancouver, British Columbia financier, Peter Wall. In the Derby, Talkin Man was made the second choice in the betting to the entry of Timber Country and Serena's Song. He ran a strong race for more than a mile and was second by inches coming down the homestretch. However, once again he had no finishing kick and faded to twelfth place, far back of winner Thunder Gulch. In the Preakness Stakes Talkin Man improved to sixth place behind winner Timber Country.

Retired to stud duty, Talkin Man has sired more than sixty winners who have met with modest success in racing. The most successful by far is Breeders' Cup Turf winner and earner of more than US$4 million, Better Talk Now. Since 2002, Talkin Man has been standing at Anshoon Stud near Mullinavat, County Kilkenny, in Ireland.

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