Trainer Graham Motion participated in his first Breeders’ Cup in 2004 and has had at least one runner in the event each year since winning that year’s Turf with Better Talk Now and running second in the Filly and Mare Turf with Film Maker. Motion’s streak will reach 17 this year with, among others, Mean Mary in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland. In September 2019, when the Scat Daddy filly finished fifth in her debut on dirt at Laurel Park, Motion said he “did not know she was this kind of filly.” Since then, Mean Mary has won 5 of 7 starts – all on turf – with two seconds, one of those being a neck loss to Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga in August. Rushing Fall is one of the contenders in what figures to be a full field for the Filly and Mare Turf. Prior to the Diana, Mean Mary had reeled off three consecutive graded stakes wins, including a 5 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 2 New York at Belmont in June. :: Play the Breeders’ Cup with DRF! Visit our Breeders’ Cup shop for Packages, PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more Motion said Mean Mary was a project when she first came to him. Prior to her getting to the races, Motion would turn her out in a paddock at the Fair Hill Training Center with Main Sequence – the 2014 BC Turf winner – which seemed to settle her down. Mean Mary now takes her aggression out on the competition. She has good early foot, which has put her on or close to the lead in all of her races. Motion cautions about dubbing her a need-the-lead type, however. “I do think that is part of her weaponry,” Motion said. “She can just gallop them into the ground. But I think if somebody else went she’d be happy to settle off them.” Motion said that galloping style would likely be more effective at longer distances, which is why he is slightly disappointed the Filly and Mare Turf is run at 1 3/16 miles. Motion said he toyed with the idea of running her against males in the $4 million Turf at 1 1/2 miles. Motion is bringing Mean Mary to the Filly and Mare Turf off an 11-week layoff, having opted to skip the Flower Bowl on Oct. 10 at Belmont. Mean Mary won the New York off a 91-day layoff and the Grade 3 Orchid off a 63-day freshening. “If you go and run your heart out in the Flower Bowl four weeks before the race you want to win, I didn’t think it made sense,” Motion said. Motion will have given Mean Mary a series of stamina-building workouts in the weeks before the Filly and Mare Turf. On Oct. 17, Mean Mary worked seven furlongs in 1:26.72 in company with the 5-year-old New York-bred mare Ratajkowski. The work was done around two turns over the Tapeta surface at Fair Hill. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2020: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division “She’s a very good workhorse, she does things very easily,” Motion said. “That went just about how I hoped it would go.” This weekend, Motion will get to work Mean Mary over the refurbished turf course at Fair Hill, then one work over the Tapeta before shipping to Keeneland. For Motion, who also plans to run Alda and Invincible Gal in the Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 6, the Breeders’ Cup “is definitely my favorite week of racing. It’s the one event in our sport where you really get the best of the best. The international thing makes it special to me.” Though it appears Magical and Tarnawa are headed to the $4 million Turf, the international cast is expected to include Angel Power, Audarya, Cayenne Pepper, Half Light, No Limit Credit, and Peaceful.