Talk to Me Jimmy ran away from his rivals powerfully to win Friday’s $200,000 Withers S. at Aqueduct by a widening 11 lengths, becoming the first black-type winner for Darby Dan Farm’s multiple graded stakes winner Modernist.
Owned in partnership by SEI Thoroughbreds and trainer Rudy Rodriguez, Talk to Me Jimmy assumed command soon after the break of the 1 1/8-mile fixture. He entered the far turn with a head of steam and kicked clear of the field at the head of the stretch. Talk to Me Jimmy powered through the lane and won as much the best, covering the distance in 1:51.68. With the impressive victory, Talk to Me Jimmy earned 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.
Bred in New York by Majestic View Farms Intl., Talk to Me Jimmy is out of the Trippi mare Prairie Trip. The 3-year-old colt broke his maiden last year at two in his second outing, taking an Aqueduct maiden special weight by 5 ½ lengths in front-running fashion in November. He is a graduate of the 2024 Keeneland September Sale where he was consigned by Vinery Sales.
Additional first-crop runners for Modernist include Tall Cool One, a 15 ¼-length winner of last year’s CTBA Laddie Stakes at Arapahoe Park; Trendsetter, winner of the Hickory Tree Stakes at Colonial Downs; Saratoga maiden special weight winner and multiple stakes-placed Grazie; as well as stakes-placed Last Candy and Stretch.
A graded stakes winner at ages three and four, Modernist won the $400,000 Risen Star S. (G2) in front-running fashion at Fair Grounds in his stakes debut as a sophomore. In his subsequent start, he finished third after a wide trip in the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2). The following season, Modernist captured the Excelsior S. (G3) at Aqueduct and was runner-up in both the Challenger S. (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs and the Pimlico Match Series S. (G3). All told, Modernist banked $576,300 while competing against the best of his generation.
A homebred for Martin and Pam Wygod and a son of the heralded Uncle Mo, Modernist descends from a prolific female family. He is produced from the unraced Bernardini mare Symbolic Gesture, a half-sister to both Sweet Catomine, Champion 2-Year-Old Filly and winner of the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and Life Is Sweet, winner of the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (G1) and an earner of $1,820,810. Modernist’s second dam is stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Sweet Life, Broodmare of the Year in 2009.
For more information on Modernist, who stands the 2026 breeding season for $5,000 S&N, contact Darby Dan Farm’s Stallion Director Stuart Fitzgibbon at (859) 621-6763 or by email at [email protected], or visit darbydan.com.
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