Team Valor International's Speechify (Harlan's Holiday–Preach It, by Saint Ballado), who overcame a serious digestive issue to become a graded-stakes winning sprinter, has been retired from the races after finishing second in a sloppy Gulfstream allowance Sept. 8.
Purchased privately after failing to meet his reserve at the 2011 Keeneland September sale, Speechify developed a life-threatening issue with his esophagus as a 2-year-old, meaning he could not ingest any hay or solid food. Tony Everard of New Episode Farm near Ocala, Florida, helped to develop a special soup-like mash after the horse's first battle with choking.
“I will never forget the first time I laid eyes on him at Keeneland,” recalled Team Valor President Barry Irwin. “When he stepped out of the stall he looked like a ready-made 2-year-old in full training that was ready to start. The colt is bred to fly and he has the looks to go along with it. Rarely does one see a horse this powerful that also is well balanced.”
Turned over to trainer Ralph Nicks, Speechify won the 2014 Kenny Noe Jr. S. and followed with a smooth success in the GIII Mr. Prospector S., but he took a nasty spill in a rained-off renewal of the GIII Woodford S. at Keeneland in April 2015. In Irwin's opinion, Speechify was never the same animal thereafter, more from a psychological standpoint than a physical one.
“He is sound, his joints are clean and he still flexes all right, but I still think he is protecting himself and I'd hate to see him go down again,” Nicks said. “He'll run along for a while, but then he
gets to taking care of himself.”
Added Irwin, “Speechify was a fun horse to campaign and he brought his partners a lot of excitement and a lot of pleasure. A lot of his partners regularly came out to watch him run in Florida and he got a lot of visitors to the barn at Gulfstream and even at the farm in Ocala. He will be missed.”
Speechify retires with a record of 16-5-3-1 and earnings of $215,185. Click here for a Bill Finley story on Speechify's journey.
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