La Prevoyante Stakes: Third time the charm for Talk to Ya Later?

TORONTO, December 11, 2024 – Talk to Ya Later, second in last year’s running of the La Prevoyante Stakes, takes on five formidable rivals in the 1 1/16-mile main track test for Ontario-sired fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, Saturday at Woodbine. 

Trained by Ian Black for Piano Bar Racing, the hard-knocking 5-year-old mare was fifth in the 2022 running of the race and runner-up, at 8-1, in last year’s edition.

“She has done very well over her career,” said the multiple graded stakes winning conditioner. “It was a very good effort in last year’s race. What she really needs is pace up front to run at. You don’t always get that, but that was a very nice performance when she was second last year.”

Talk to Ya Later, bred by Charles Fipke, comes into the La Prevoyante off a second in a 1 1/16-mile main track race at Woodbine on Nov. 16.

One race earlier, on Oct. 26, she was a rallying third in the 7 ½-furlong Ballade Stakes, contested on the Toronto oval’s inner turf.

Versatility, in surface and distance, continues to be the calling card for the daughter of Perfect Timber out of the Sea The Stars (IRE) mare Sea The Awesome (IRE).

As for what she is best suited for, Black, whose numerous accomplishments include a 2007 Queen’s Plate win with Mike Fox, still isn’t certain.

“That’s been my biggest thing her whole career – I really don’t know. When we bought her, we bought her because of her pedigree and thought she would do well on the turf. She’s run some nice races at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf, but she is extremely versatile.”   

Talk to Ya Later was a debut winner, taking a 6 ½-furlong main track race by 1 ½ lengths at 14-1 on Nov. 27, 2021. She became the first winner for then-freshman sire Perfect Timber.

After a seventh to kick off her 3-year-old campaign, the dark bay won the Algoma Stakes on Aug. 28, 2022, and in doing so, became the first stakes winner for Perfect Timber.

A $5,000 (CDN) purchase at the 2020 CTHS Canadian Premier Yearling Sale, Talk to Ya Later arrives at the La Prevoyante with a 3-5-4 mark from 23 starts, along with $227,135 (U.S.) in purse earnings.

She worked four furlongs in :48.80 over the main track on Saturday.

“The amazing thing is she won the Yearling Sales stakes [Algoma] and she has been placed in seven stakes since then, including the Grade 3 Hendrie in 2023,” praised Black. “But I would love to win another stakes with her. She has been a wonderful mare for us.”

Ricardo Nicholson, who has been with Black since 2005 and looked after Talk to Ya Later since she was a 2-year-old, is the groom.

Kevin Attard sends out multiple graded stakes winner Fashionably Fab and multiple stakes winner War Painter. Multiple stakes placed Fortyfiveseventy, 2023 Wonder Where Stakes winner Tito’s Calling and multiple stakes winner Hurricane Clair round out the field.

Bred in Canada by Jean-Louis Levesque, La Prevoyante was a champion in her home country as well as the United States. Undefeated in 12 starts as a juvenile in 1972, La Prevoyante won the Eclipse Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Filly, as well as the corresponding Sovereign Award that year, and was also voted Canadian Horse of the Year.  

La Prevoyante’s career record of 25-5-3 from 39 starts and earnings of $572,417 led her to be inducted as part of the inaugural Canadian Hall of Fame class in 1976. She was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1995.  

First post for Saturday’s 11-race card is 1:10 p.m. Fans can wager on all the action through HPIbet.com and bet365.    

Field for the La Prevoyante (Race 9)

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer  

1 – Talk to Ya Later – Ryan Munger – Ian Black

2 – Fortyfiveseventy – Daisuke Fukumoto – Barbara Minshall

3 – Tito’s Calling – Jose Campos – Mike De Paulo

4 – War Painter – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard

5 – Fashionably Fab – David Moran – Kevin Attard

6 – Hurricane Clair – Sahin Civaci – Martin Drexler

Chris Lomon, Woodbine