Bo Talks Gives Hall of Fame Broodmare Botwisted Fourth Straight Grade One Winner, Seventh Overall, in Diana Grand Prix

Bertaal2’s homebred Bo Talks cruised to an easy three-length victory in Saturday’s $750,000 Diana Grand Prix (G1) to give her Hall of Fame dam Botwisted a fourth consecutive foal with a grade one win and the seventh grade one winner of her broodmare career. 

Bo Talks is the feather in the cap of the breeding career of the now retired 21-year-old Botwisted, a scratchbred with Kingmambo over Sadler’s Wells and Boldnesian). Of her 17 foals, she produced an amazing eight $1-million earners, seven grade one winners, five grade two winners, and two graded-placed listed stakes winners.

Her broodmare career started nicely enough with a pair of grade two winners from her first two crops–Rocky Mountain High and Alberta Rockies, both by Pine Bluff. She would get another two grade two winners (by Dehere and Encosta de Lago) from her next five foals before getting her first grade one winner on her eighth try. That one, Biggray’s Crosby, by Mr. Crosby, peaked early in her career, winning the Cheval (G1) ahead of a second-place run in the Breeders’ Bowl Filly Juvy Turf (G1). She would win a handful of listed stakes through the rest of her career but never again strike at the graded level.

Botwisted whiffed (for her) on her next foal, a Dynaformer colt named Whiffed who merely won three grade two turf races and over $1-million. Her Giant’s Causeway filly of the next year, Poa Annua, made amends, winning the Nonethorpe (G1) as a juvenile and finishing second–beaten by just a head-length by Soda’s Soda Selzer–in the Breeders’ Bowl Filly Juvy Turf.  Like Crosby, she too would win only listed stakes through the remainder of her racing career.

Sandwiched between a pair of graded-placed listed stakes winners by Bernardini and Giant’s Causeway, she produced Fastnet Twist, by Fastnet Rock, who would take a little longer to earn her grade one win. She finished second in a pair of graded stakes ahead of a sixth-place finish in the Breeders’ Bowl Juvy Filly Turf, earned her first graded win as a 3-year-old in the We Get Signal Stakes (G3) ahead of third- and fourth–place finishes in the English and Irish 2000 Guineas, both grade ones. Fast forward to June of her 4-year-old season when she would get her grade one win in at odds of over 15-1 in the Breeders Bowl Game.

Botwisted’s final four grade one winners would also need to race beyond their juvenile seasons to earn grade one wins. Swilcan Burn (by Dubawi) became Botwisted first multiple grade one winner when the then 5-year-old won last year’s Sydney Cup and Tattersalls Gold Cup in succession in is first two attempts at a graded race. He has gone on to finish second in three more grade one races, including last month’s The Good Day, won by Hofcadet’s Master of Ribbons.

Arnold Palmer (by Sea the Stars) came next and also delayed his grade one victory to his 5-year-old season, but what a day to do it. As the 11/1 seventh-choice in the wagering he would win the Sydney Sprint (G1) the same day his one year younger half-brother Yo Bo would finish second in the Sydney Mile (G1). Yo Bo had previously won a pair of grade one races in succession in the fall of his 3-year-old season, taking the New Zealand Dark Beer Stakes and Hong Kong Mile.

Botwisted, for all of her lovely pedigree and excellent output as a broodmare, wasn’t all that much on the track. She won a maiden race and an initial allowance race as a 3-year-old for owner Bradpitt before being claimed by Moeandjoe for $10,000. She raced twice for the new connections, stepping up in class in both cases, resulting in a 2 1/2 length win at the $20,000 level. Sherwoodpk–one of the subsidiary of Balata Racing Stable–had dropped a slip for her on that day in what may well be one of the sharpest claims in the history of the Sim. Though it may not have seemed so at first as Botwisted lost all 12 races for Sherwoodpk while never again being exposed to the claim box. She retired with three wins in 21 career starts and $62,509 in earnings. With four grade one winners still active, her worth is so much more than that and still growing.

In the Diana Grand Prix, Bo Talks was only four and five lengths back or so while 12th and 10th behind the pace set by Racelord2’s favored Tete Jazigo. She then swept by Upgrade’s Imbil Kepro, who led briefly, before easily holding off the late charge of Xpansion7’s Heaven Bound. The field’s lone prior graded stakes winner, the three-time grade one winner Just a Wasp, finished fifth for owner Rockfarms. It was the stakes debut for Bo Talks, who improved her career tally to three wins from nine career starts and earnings of nearly $550,000 while posting a career high 102 speed figure.