Main Sequence will use Joe Hirsch Turf Classic as final Breeders’ Cup prep

ELMONT, N.Y. – After posting back-to-back Grade 1 wins with Main Sequence this summer, Graham Motion briefly flirted with the idea of training him up to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita. But in the end, Motion thought the 11 weeks between his victory in the Aug. 17 Sword Dancer and the Breeders’ Cup might be too long.

So, Main Sequence will seek his third consecutive Grade 1 victory in Saturday’s $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park. Main Sequence, a 5-year-old gelding by Aldebaran, is coming off narrow victories in the United Nations at Monmouth and Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga.

“I feel like he probably needs to run again,” Motion said. “He’s doing well. The spacing’s very good for this race – it works out, timing-wise.”

Main Sequence has run only twice this year. He had six weeks between the U.N. and the Sword Dancer and six weeks from the Sword Dancer to this race. He will have five weeks to the Breeders’ Cup.

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Following the Sword Dancer, Main Sequence returned to his base at Fair Hill, Md., where he has worked three times, including a five-furlong move in 1:02 on Saturday.

“I’m happy with him,” Motion said. “He’s not a flashy workhorse. I don’t do a whole lot with him, but he did what I wanted him to do.”

Motion has taken 12 stalls at Belmont for the fall meet and said he planned to ship Main Sequence here a few days before the race “to get him settled in.”

Main Sequence will meet some familiar rivals in the Joe Hirsch, including Imagining, who finished a head behind him in the Sword Dancer, and Twilight Eclipse, who finished a neck behind Main Sequence in the United Nations.

On Monday, Imagining worked five furlongs in 1:02.96 over a yielding Belmont turf course.

Others pointing to the Joe Hirsch are Big Blue Kitten and Real Solution, second and third in this race a year ago; Hangover Kid; Medal Count; and possibly Micromanage and Sheldon.