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Hobby reflects on Sword Dancer upset Arlington-based trainer Steve Hobby posed in the Saratoga winner's circle late Saturday afternoon in upstate New York, but was back in Barn 21 at Arlington early Sunday morning for training hours, recalling how Alex and Jo Ann Lieblong's TELLING (A.P. Indy) had upset the Sword Dancer Invitational (G1) at the Spa as the 33-1 longest shot on the board. "It was the owner's decision to run in that race up there," Hobby said without hesitation. "I was thinking of running him in the Rossi Gold here (at Arlington on August 1) and then coming back in the Stars and Stripes H. ([G3] on September 7) like we did last year, but the owner called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me how the horse was doing. "I told him, 'He's doing great -- he feels like winning right now, and he needs a win right now,'" Hobby said. "So then he said, 'Well then, let's go. Let's take a shot up there.' "The race went perfect for us," Hobby said. "There was a hot pace up front early -- they were going way too fast -- so the jock (Javier Castellano) eased him back out of it. Also, the closers were way back, and when a seam opened up for our horse, he just took off. It couldn't have set up any better for us." How did a Chicago-based trainer get the services of a New York-based jockey like Castellano, considered one of the best grass riders in the nation? "Actually, the owner did that, too," Hobby said. "After the race, everyone was surrounding me, asking me why we decided to run there and I said: 'The owner did that.' Then they asked me how we got Castellano, and I said: 'The owner did that.' Finally, I didn't want to dumb myself down too much, so I added: 'But I did a real good job getting him ready!'" Hobby, 53, was born in La Harpe, Illinois, but raised in Colorado. After a four-year career as a jockey, he turned to training in 1976 and has been a regular on the Chicago circuit in the summer and fall and at Arkansas' Oaklawn Park during the winter and early spring. Wife Metzi, who works right alongside him at his Arlington barn, accompanied the horse up to Saratoga earlier last week while Hobby caught an early Saturday morning commercial flight to upstate New York to be at the race. He was supposed to fly back to Chicago on a commercial flight, too, but he missed his plane. Leiblong, who keeps his own private plane on his farm in Conway, Arkansas, flew up with his wife Jo Ann for the race. He ended up dropping off Hobby in Chicago on his way back to Little Rock. "On the flight back," Hobby said, "he told me he'd make a deal with that any time I won a Grade 1 race for him, he'd fly me home." It was the first Grade I win of Hobby's training career, although he has won Arlington's Modesty H. (G3) and Arlington Matron (G3) with Belle of Cozzene and Singapore Plate (G3) (now the Arlington Oaks) with Sue's Good News. Entering Sunday's race day, Hobby had saddled 13 winners at the current meeting. "All of the sudden, this is a great year for me," Hobby said. "What a difference one race can make!" Runner-up BETTER TALK NOW (Talkin Man) will be heading back to the Fair Hill Training Center Monday for Graham Motion after he came up two lengths short of winning his second Sword Dancer Invitational. Motion said he still has mixed emotions after the 10-year-old gelding, who won the 2004 Sword Dancer, made a five-wide rally and finished second to Telling. "I have a glitch of disappointment. I would have loved to see him win it, but I am so happy that he ran a tremendous race," Motion said. "He had been training so well coming into this race. He seems to be doing fine. We'll send him back to Fair Hill and go from there." Motion suggested that Better Talk Now, who has not won a race since the Manhattan H. (G1) in 2007, could be a candidate for Belmont's $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational (G1) at 1 1/2 miles on October 3. "He has never won the Joe Hirsch Invitational and that seems to be the most likely spot for him, but we'll have to decide that over the next four or five weeks. That may be his swan song. I don't know if we'll run him back as an 11-year-old," Motion said. "We're in uncharted waters with him being a 10-year-old," he added. "This year, we needed to plan his races one at a time. We don't know if he was beaten because of his age or if he was beaten by a better horse." Two-time defending champion GRAND COUTURIER (GB) (Grand Lodge), fifth, beaten less than four lengths, as the favorite in the Sword Dancer, came out of the race in excellent shape and will be pointed toward major fall turf stakes races at Belmont. The six-year-old appeared a happy horse Sunday morning, sipping from a water bucket before a sponge bath and showing no ill effects from his loss. "It's disappointing, naturally," trainer Bobby Ribaudo said. "No question. If everything is OK and in place the next few days, life's not over. He seems fresh; he seems good." Ribaudo and owner Marc Keller both agreed Grand Couturier, who was attempting to win his third straight Sword Dancer, could run twice more this year. The trainer said the most likely immediate objective would be the Joe Hirsch. Ribaudo, however, was puzzling over his horse's performance. "There's no question he didn't run his race," Ribaudo said. "I don't think you can put your finger on it. As of yesterday morning, we were happy with where we were at. We still got there."
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