Journey Home, Ring Weekend staying in California

DEL MAR, Calif. – The Saturday stakes winners Journey Home and Ring Weekend are likely to be part of the Southern California racing scene this winter. Graham Motion trains Journey Home and Ring Weekend and said on Sunday they are likely to be part of his small stable at Santa Anita this winter.

“What we’re trying to do is keep a presence out there,” said Motion, who has a year-round base in Maryland. “It’s a question of the numbers.”

Journey Home won her stakes debut in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes on turf for 2-year-old fillies. Ring Weekend won the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf and is likely to run in the leading turf miles of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that begins Dec. 26.

The main race for turf milers is the $300,000 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 11, a race Ring Weekend won in 2015. In the Seabiscuit, Ring Weekend ended a two-race losing streak that included a seventh-place finish, beaten 3 3/4 lengths, in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.

“I wasn’t surprised by the performance,” Motion said of the win. “I thought in the Breeders’ Cup, he was unlucky. He got off to a bad start, and it compromised him. This horse hasn’t run too many poor races. If he has, there has been an excuse and reason for it.”

This coming weekend, Motion has runners in the two Grade 1 races on turf that highlight the final weekend of the Del Mar meeting. Motion will start Hayabusa One in Saturday’s $300,000 Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles. Hayabusa One won his American debut in an allowance race at Keeneland last month.

The race will have a full field, with Annals of Time, Beach Patrol, Blackjackcat, Camelot Kitten, Defiantly, Diplodocus, Frank Conversation, Free Rose, Isotherm, Monster Bea, Path of David, and Ralis among the other expected starters.

Miss Temple City, fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, is Motion’s hope in Sunday’s $300,000 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile. The list of likely runners includes Belvoir Bay, Kitcat, Mexican Gold, Nancy From Nairobi, Prize Exhibit, Roca Rojo, Stays in Vegas, Time and Motion, Tiz a Kiss and Zindaya.

Decked Out, the winner of the Providencia Stakes at Santa Anita in April, is expected to be supplemented for $3,000. She was second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August but 12th in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita in October.

The Del Mar meeting ends next Sunday. Los Alamitos opens its two-week winter meeting Dec. 8.