Eloquent Speaker speaks loudly to Lynch's eye for a good horse
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainers starting out are always looking for a horse that will get them noticed. Natalia Lynch seemed to have found that horse in Eloquent Speaker.
Lynch claimed Eloquent Speaker for $45,000 on Dec. 11. Six days later Eloquent Speaker won a first-level allowance. Sixteen days after that, Eloquent Speaker finished second, beaten just a neck, in the La Verdad Stakes.
On Tuesday, though, Lynch watched Eloquent Speaker go through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton winter mixed sale and hammer down for $200,000, purchased by Bluewater Sales, LLC. For a $45,000 investment, Eloquent Speaker brought back $265,100 in seven weeks.
“You think about the long run,” said Lynch, who partnered on the horse with owner Ben Mondello. “To cash in on a horse that you did so well with in about 40 days, you can’t pass that up.”
Lynch has been training on her own only since the summer of 2020. Her first win came 13 months ago with Wendell Fong in the Fire Plug Stakes at Laurel. Eloquent Speaker’s win here on Dec. 17 was Lynch’s sixth victory.
Lynch had first become acquainted with Eloquent Speaker when she was working as a rider and assistant for trainer Jeremiah Englehart and the filly was in the barn as a 2-year-old. When Lynch wanted to claim the filly last Dec. 11, three of her owners said they weren’t interested for that price. She claimed the filly anyway and brought Mondello, an owner who utilizes many trainers, in as a partner.
Lynch said Mondello thought she was nuts for wheeling the horse back in six days and again when she wheeled her back on short rest in the La Verdad. Following the La Verdad, Mondello said he had an offer from another owner to buy the mare. Lynch told him to decline the offer and put her in the sale instead.
Lynch said Mondello was mad at first, “but he stuck it out with me and he gave me a shot to do it.”
“I was holding my breath for 30 days,” she said. “I said I hope this is the right move.”
Lynch said she watched the sale with her family, including her young son, who when the horse was sold jumped up and shouted, “Mommy just won a $200 race.”
“He had no idea, but it was really cute,” she said.
Lynch had a back-up plan had the sale not gone well. Eloquent Speaker was nominated to Sunday’s $100,000 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct.
“Ideally, as a trainer, I would have loved to do that because that’s the type of horse I want in my barn,” Lynch said. “So, it’s really hard to part ways with that, but at the end of the day you have to be super realistic.”
As of Friday, Lynch maintained a 12-horse stable. She’s hoping the proceeds from the sale of Eloquent Speaker go toward purchasing more horses.