by Karen M. Johnson
Rosinka, a game runner-up to Lahudood in the Sept. 30 Flower Bowl Invitational (gr. IT) at Belmont Park, is under serious consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Emirates Airline Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) at Monmouth Park Oct. 27.
Rosinka, beaten three-quarters of a length in the Flower Bowl after setting the pace, would have to be supplemented at the cost of $180,000 to run in the $2-million Filly & Mare Turf. Graham Motion, who trains the 4-year-old for Alistair McDonald Buchanan, said the decision would hinge largely on which European horses run in the race.
“Obviously, based on her race the other day, she fits with the American runners,” Motion said Oct. 3. “We need to see who is coming among the Europeans. We are certainly considering it, but we need to see if it is realistic that she can hit the board to make (the supplemental fee) back.”
Rosinka is an Irish-bred daughter of Soviet Star. This year she has won four of seven starts, including the Glen Falls Handicap (gr. III) at Saratoga, and Delaware Park’s Robert G. Dick Memorial Breeders’ Cup Handicap and James W. Rooney Memorial.
A victory in the Filly & Mare Turf would be a sweet one for Motion, who watched his mare Film Maker run in the race the last three years. Film Maker finished second in 2004 and 2006 and was third in 2005.
Motion also reported Oct. 3 that his 2004 John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (gr. IT) winner, Better Talk Now, is on target to run in the race for the fourth time. Better Talk Now, an 8-year-old owned by Bushwood Stables, was second in last year’s Turf and seventh in 2005.
Motion hasn’t run Better Talk Now since he finished third in the July 7 United Nations Handicap (gr. I) at Monmouth. The gelding was scratched from the Sword Dancer Invitational (gr. IT) at Saratoga after a puncture wound in a front ankle that he sustained in the United Nations flared up the day before the race.
Motion worked Better Talk Now, a son of Talkin Man, five furlongs in 1:02 at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland Sept. 30. It was only his second work since Aug. 4.
Better Talk Now worked Sept. 8, but came out of the breeze body sore and Motion was forced to wait another 22 days before working him again.
“He’s doing super fine and will have three more works,” Motion said. “I think he seems himself again.”