Brown, Toner ready invaders for California stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With the New York graded turf stakes complete for the year, trainers Jimmy Toner and Chad Brown will soon take their show on the road, sending horses to Southern California for upcoming graded grass events.

Toner will ship Time and Motion and Defiant Honor this Sunday to Del Mar, where they will run in the Grade 1 Matriarch on Dec. 4 and Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes on Nov. 26, respectively.

Time and Motion, winner of the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, worked a sensational five furlongs in 1:00.37 Sunday over the Belmont turf course.

In the breeze, Time and Motion spotted a Shug McGaughey-trained runner that was more than a sixteenth of a mile ahead of her. She nearly caught that horse by the wire, getting her final three furlongs in 34.75 seconds under John Velazquez. Time and Motion joined the horse shortly after the wire and galloped out a strong seven furlongs.

“She’s always looking at stuff, but today there was something out there that started to get her attention, and she got into it a little bit more,” Toner said. “Johnny made her gallop out with that one.”

Toner said he would probably wait until Time and Motion got to Del Mar before giving her another workout.

Time and Motion is using the Matriarch as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 31.

Time and Motion will have company on her Sunday flight. Defiant Honor, a two-length maiden winner at Belmont on Oct. 30, will run in the one-mile Jimmy Durante Stakes for juvenile fillies at a mile on Nov. 26. Defiant Honor is a half-sister to Recepta, winner of the Grade 3 Noble Damsel in 2015.

Meanwhile, Brown is gearing up a platoon for a couple of Del Mar stakes.

Brown is preparing to send Beach Patrol, Camelot Kitten, and Deeply Undervalued for the Grade 1, $300,000 Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds on Dec. 3. Brown is also pointing Roca Rojo and perhaps Mexican Gold to the Matriarch.

Beach Patrol and Camelot Kitten worked five furlongs in company Sunday in 1:02.31 over Belmont Park’s turf course.

Roca Rojo and Mexican Gold worked five furlongs in company Sunday in 1:02.16, with a final three furlongs in 36.00 seconds, also over the Belmont turf.

Roca Rojo and Mexican Gold ran first and third in the Grade 3 Athenia at Belmont on Oct. 23.