Gimme a Nother invades Hillsborough with perfect record

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Over the last year, trainer Graham Motion has received an influx of South African-based runners in his stable. Perhaps the most exciting of the group is Gimme a Nother, who brings a 7-for-7 record into her North American debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

Gimme a Nother, previously trained by Michael de Kock, hasn’t raced since last April, taking the Group 1 Tab Empress Club Stakes in South Africa for her second career Group 1 victory. In September, she began a two-month quarantine period during which she was permitted to train. She came to the U.S. in late November and has been working steadily at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida since early January.

On Feb. 10, Gimme a Nother outworked the South African-bred Beach Bomb, who won last Saturday’s The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park. On Feb. 23, Gimme a Nother worked in company with last year’s Hillsborough winner, Sparkle Blue, who is in the race again this year, and the pair were basically heads apart at the wire.

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Over the last three years, Motion is 18 for 71 with a $2.55 return on investment bringing horses back off a layoff of 180 to 365 days. Four of those wins came in stakes.

“She’s done everything I’ve asked her to do,” Motion said. “She was breezing with Beach Bomb and she breezed the last two weeks with Sparkle Blue. It’s going to be a tough enough spot to get her started in, but she’s 7 for 7.”

Motion has obtained the services of Irad Ortiz Jr., who is 1 for 1 with Motion at the Tampa meet, having ridden Pretty Lavish to an allowance victory on Feb. 8.

Motion has won the Hillsborough twice, including last year with Sparkle Blue, who, under Jorge Ruiz, took advantage of a paceless race to record a front-running, 16-1 upset. She has not run since finishing 11th in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly at Woodbine last Oct. 5. Last year, she finished third in the Endeavour before running in the Hillsborough.

Trainer Chad Brown is a six-time Hillsborough winner. This year he has entered three including Saffron Moon, who is 2 for 2 at Tampa, including a victory in the Endeavour last out in what was just her second start in 15 months. Brown said Saffron Moon never had any serious injuries, just little frustrating things that added to having to constantly give her time.

“I don’t have too many horses go on at 6, but she’s so lightly raced that I treat her like she’s a year younger than she is,” Brown said.

Venencia finished third to Saffron Moon in the Endeavour, which was her first start off a two-month layoff or since she won the Forever Together Stakes at Aqueduct last November. Her last two starts have been her best speed figure-wise and both have come with the addition of blinkers.

Venencia is a late-runner who “shows good closing races at middle distances because there’s pace,” Brown said. “If she loses the pace,” Brown said the 1 1/8 miles of the Hillsborough could be an issue.

Spaliday is by More Than Ready out of the dam Dayatthespa, a mare Brown trained to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf as a 5-year-old. Spaliday ran seven times at 3, winning the Boiling Springs at Monmouth in July and the Grade 2 Sands Point at Aqueduct on Oct. 12, her most recent start.

“Knowing the family really well – [Dayatthespa] got better when she got older – I went ahead and let her grow up a little bit,” Brown said of Spaliday. “Her works have been good.”

Brown noted that with the addition of blinkers beginning in the Boiling Springs, Spaliday “jumped forward a little bit,” he said.

Damaso, sent out by the meet’s leading trainer, Kathleen O’Connell, is a horse-for-course at Tampa having won four of 10 starts over the course, including her last, a high-class allowance on Feb. 14. This would be her first try at 1 1/8 miles and first in a graded stakes on turf. She is saddled with post 10.

Avenue Niel, Eternal Silence, She’s Fire, and Victoria’s Dancer complete the field.

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