Talkin meets up-and-comers in Remsen; six set for Demoiselle

Dec 01, 2025 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Talkin edges out Stradale at Saratoga.

Talkin wins on debut at Saratoga (Photo by Coglianese Photos)

Saturday’s $250,000 Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct features a fascinating field of 12 juveniles hoping to make the grade on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The companion scoring race for fillies, the $250,000 Demoiselle (G2), has attracted six with potential aspirations toward the Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Each 1 1/8-mile contest offers points on the 10-5-3-2-1 scale to the top five finishers. The Demoiselle goes off as the third race at 12:17 p.m. ET, and the Remsen is carded as the ninth race at 3:28 p.m.

Remsen (G2)

Champagne (G1) runner-up Talkin will try to give trainer Danny Gargan his third win in the Remsen. Like his past winners, Dubyuhnell (2022) and Dornoch (2023), Talkin is a son of successful young sire Good Magic.

“I liked Good Magic as a racehorse,” Gargan said of the champion two-year-old colt of 2017 who was second in the 2018 Kentucky Derby (G1). “I took a shot on him as a sire. We are just always looking for dirt horses that go long, that’s what he is, and what we’re trying to buy.

“This horse has a big pedigree and a nice family,” Gargan noted.

Talkin is out of a mare by Hall of Famer Tiznow. And Talkin’s half-sister, Grade 2-placed Royal Obsession, produced current Cotillion (G1) winner Clicquot.

Given his pedigree, Talkin did well to score in his first start going seven furlongs at Saratoga. Finishing third that day was Further Ado, the future winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2).

Although Talkin was no match for front-running Napoleon Solo next time in the Champagne, he rallied from further back to finish second. The step up in distance figures to bring out the best in him.

“We’ve been waiting to run two turns,” Gargan added. “We want to see a strong performance going long to set him up for next year.”

Talkin will break from post 11 with regular rider Kendrick Carmouche.

Two years ago, the Chad Brown-trained Sierra Leone just missed to Dornoch in the Remsen. On Saturday, Brown will send out a similar type of up-and-comer in Paladin.

Like Sierra Leone, Paladin is an expensive yearling purchase by Gun Runner. He also shares overlapping ownership, including the Coolmore principals. From a deep female line himself, Paladin comes from the family of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire To Honor and Serve, the 2010 Remsen hero.

Paladin was favored in his Oct. 17 unveiling going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct. The $1.9 million colt crossed the wire a head behind Renegade, but was promoted to the win via disqualification. Renegade came out slightly toward Paladin late, and the stewards demoted him to second.

“I thought he ran really well,” Brown said of Paladin. “He ran a really good race and got herded late, and I was happy that he got put up. Once he felt that other horse and straightened out again, he galloped out really well. I don’t think the added distance will be a problem. He’s done really well since the race.”

Renegade is one of a trio of contenders for Todd Pletcher, along with Courting and Grittiness. If any of them wins, Pletcher would equal fellow Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey’s record of four Remsen victories.

Renegade, a $950,000 yearling by Into Mischief, is a third-generation Pletcher pupil. He is the first foal from the Grade 3-winning Curlin mare Spice Is Nice. Her mother, Dame Dorothy, was a Grade 1 winner for Pletcher.

First seen over the summer at Saratoga, Renegade was a remote third behind the impressive It’s Our Time in a sprint maiden. He improved with the added ground last time, and the extra furlong can only help.

Stablemates Courting and Grittiness, both sons of Curlin, ran one-two in a similar Aqueduct maiden over a mile.

Courting, the $5 million sale topper at Keeneland September last year, is a full brother to multiple Grade 1 queen Clairiere. They were both produced by multiple Grade 1 star Cavorting. Grittiness, out of 2018 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) vixen Coach Rocks, adds blinkers here.

In his debut two starts back, Courting was a closing fourth to Rick Dutrow’s Igniter, who will have to rely on his mother for stamina. By the brilliant sprinter Volatile, Igniter is out of Malibu Prayer, winner of the Ruffian (G1) when it was a 1 1/8-mile test at Saratoga.

Yet another Curlin colt, I Did I Did, hails from the Mike Maker barn. A 1 1/16-mile Churchill Downs maiden winner in September, he was most recently fourth over the same track and trip in the Street Sense (G3).

Balboa, an $875,000 colt by hot sire Not This Time, was only fifth in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) and American Pharoah (G1) for Bob Baffert. But when switched to Maryland trainer Brittany Russell, Balboa promptly dominated the six-furlong James F. Lewis III in his first try at Laurel. It remains to be seen if he can continue his progress on the stretch-out. His mother, the War Front mare Tap of War, is a full sister to Grade 1-winning turf miler Halladay.

Fellow Mid-Atlantic shipper Probably Dreaming, who won a pair of stakes at his Delaware Park base, was runner-up in the Nashua S. when venturing to Aqueduct. Day One Starter, a distant third as the Nashua favorite, hopes to rebound for McGaughey.

The lone entrant with experience at the distance is the Kenny McPeek-trained Chambersville, who broke his maiden going 1 1/8 miles on the Keeneland turf. Rounding out the field is Parx maiden winner Concarneau, a half-brother (by Improbable) to 2022 Delaware H. (G2) romper Miss Leslie.

Demoiselle (G2)

Pletcher is double-handed as he seeks a record-extending 10th win in the Demoiselle. Both of his hopes, Believable and Zany, represent Repole Stable.

Believable, an $800,000 yearling purchase, will recognize a couple of familiar foes on Saturday in Concurrently and Shilling. In her premiere over a mile here, Believable set the pace and just outdueled Concurrently. Believable did not run as well from off the pace in the Tempted S., winding up second to Shilling.

Now Believable adds blinkers in hopes of turning the tables on Shilling, who has won two straight over this track for McPeek.

Believable has something in common with three of Pletcher’s past winners. Like champions Malathaat (2020) and Nest (2021) as well as Malathaat’s sister, Julia Shining (2022), Believable is a daughter of Curlin. She is also a full sister to Grade 2-winning millionaire Tenfold, who was third in the 2018 Preakness (G1) to Triple Crown sweeper Justify.

Stablemate Zany takes a more dramatic hike in distance after crushing her 6 1/2-furlong bow at Gulfstream Park. By Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, she is out of Mo’ Green, who scored her signature win in Aqueduct’s Top Flight (G3) in 2017.

Concurrently, also a daughter of American Pharoah, came right back to break her maiden in front-running fashion.

“She’s really done well,” Brown said. “I’m very pleased with how she’s developed here at Belmont. I got her career started off on the wrong foot by putting her in a turf race, but once we put her onto the dirt and let her develop that route, she’s done well. It was a hard-fought win last time and I think she’s looking for a mile and an eighth on the dirt. The trip should suit her.”

Jumping the Gun, a two-time stakes winner at Delaware, suffered her first loss when runner-up in the White Clay Creek S. over a mile. But the daughter of Gun Runner is bred to go further.

Ivy Girl, who just won a $40,000 maiden claiming race, jumps up in class. Trained by Amelia Green, a former assistant to Pletcher, she’s by freshman sire Maxfield from the family of 2006 Kentucky Oaks queen Lemons Forever.

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