Motion duo get chance on turf in Toronto Cup

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Graham Motion usually means business when he ships to Woodbine. He sends out Serifos and Zatip in Saturday’s $125,000 Toronto Cup, a one-mile turf route for 3-year-olds that he won in 2005 with T.D. Vance.

Serifos is exiting a blowout allowance score over a wet-fast track at Delaware Park, a one-mile event that was taken off the turf. His grass form last winter at Tampa Bay Downs was poor, after which he was gelded.

“He’s a brother to Alda, who finished second in the Grade 1 Natalma two years ago at Woodbine,” Motion pointed out. “He’s never won on the turf, but I always felt he’d run well on it. His form turned around after we gelded him. He’s put a few nice races together.

“It’s actually quite hard to place a 3-year-old who has won a couple of races into a stakes. It seems like a good spot to try him.”

Zatip graduated last fall at Keeneland and won his season opener in allowance company at Laurel Park before coming up empty in the Aug. 1 Housebuster Stakes at Colonial Downs. The son of three-time leading sire Tapit and Grade 1 winner Zaftig wound up fifth after racing wide and missing the break in his only turf start, when debuting at Laurel in October.

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“That was a very disappointing race, the last one, in what was a really tough contest, so we’ll see how he takes to the grass,” Motion said.

Among the others in the wide open 10-horse race are Churchtown and Hicksy.

Churchtown has won two in a row heading into the Toronto Cup and could go off favored. He showed that he can thrive on the turf when beating conditioned allowance company going 7 1/2 furlongs on the inner course on July 3, and has since worked nicely for trainer Roger Attfield.

Hicksy upset Ironstone in the Display Stakes when he was in peak form last October. The son of Hootenanny has struggled this year, however, and is experimenting on the grass Saturday.

“It’s been a bit of a disappointing start for him so far,” Attard said. “He got into a little bit of trouble last time. I think he should like the mile distance and his sire was a Breeders’ Cup [Juvenile] Turf winner.

“We worked him on the turf about a month ago. We were pointing to some stakes that didn’t fill. This is the next opportunity to get him back on the grass.”

Trainer Mark Casse entered Mannix and the supplement First Empire, who’s getting back onto the Lasix program.

Mannix beat allowance company in his penultimate race on the Tapeta, over which he was a troubled fourth in the Grade 3 Marine most recently.

First Empire, victorious in the 2021 Soaring Free Stakes, has been sidelined since a front-running fourth in the Grade 1 Summer here last September.

Completing the field are Riot House, Luckman, Day Tripper, and Lac Macaza.