Brown, Motion square off in Violet Stakes

It’s Brown versus Motion on Saturday in filly-and-mare turf routes in Kentucky and New Jersey.

Mission of Joy and Sparkle Blue for Graham Motion take on Chad Brown-trained Fluffy Socks in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf, and in the $100,000 Violet at Monmouth Park, Motion sends out Beach Bomb, while Brown has Maman Joon.

Seven went into the 1 1/16-mile Violet, a patchwork group that on paper should be dominated by the Motion and Brown fillies.

Beach Bomb brings a rare résumé into the Violet, her first start since being exported from her native South Africa, where she won a pair of Group 1 races, including the Cartier Paddock Stakes on Jan. 6. The Cartier Paddock, contested at 1 1/8 miles, is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, and the filly’s connections have designs on the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Beach Bomb, by the late Lancaster Bomber, an Aidan O’Brien-trained horse twice second in Breeders’ Cup races, was among 11 South African horses shipped to America this past spring. She spent two months in quarantine before arriving at Motion’s training base, Fair Hill in Maryland, where she posted her first breeze June 27.

“It’s been a pretty straightforward path, and she hasn’t done much wrong, but we did have to start from scratch with her,” Motion said.

Motion said he considered Beach Bomb for the 1 1/4-mile E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, a race at a distance more suitable to Beach Bomb’s talents. But the vast, sweeping turns at Woodbine don’t at all resemble the course at Del Mar, which hosts this year’s Breeder’s Cup.

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“I think a mile and a sixteenth is sharp for her, but this is something more comparable to what she’d do at Del Mar,” Motion said.

Maman Joon drops a notch or two in class from the Grade 3 Matchmaker, where she finished fifth after taking surprising betting action, going off at 7-2. A French import, Maman Joon has come around nicely this year for Brown, but the filly has absolutely no early speed and is pace dependent. She got none in the Matchmaker, a race run at a crawl, and while Maman Joon finished fast she could make no ground on the horses who got a jump on her.

There’s more pace in the Violet, with Damaso and Cecile likely to take up forward positions. In the end, this should come down to Brown or Motion.

Sapling Stakes

The Sorority Stakes, a two-turn mile for 2-year-old fillies, failed to fill when entries were first taken for the race, but came back a week later and was run Aug. 24. The $200,000 Sapling, a 2-year-old mile with no sex restriction, had been scheduled for Aug. 24 but failed to fill. Now, a week later, the Sapling made it onto a race card, with a modest group of seven set to start Saturday.

To say the form of the race comes from all over the place is saying too little: Sapling entrants last started at Parx Racing, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Saratoga, Gulfstream Park, Louisiana Downs, and Monmouth. Good luck with that.

Joey Muscles, scratched as a main-track-only entrant from Thursday’s With Anticipation at Saratoga, is the Sapling’s fastest horse on Beyer Speed Figures, but the 72 he earned winning a Florida-bred maiden race in July came in a five-furlong sprint. Stretched to six furlongs in a minor Gulfstream stakes last out, Joey Muscles’s Beyer dropped to 61 as he finished third.

Global Legend, an even sixth last out in the Saratoga Special, and Monmouth-based Crazy Frazy, who has a route pedigree, appear to be stronger contenders.

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