Motion has numbers edge in full Long Island field

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Long Island Stakes at Aqueduct, the last graded turf race of the year on this circuit, drew an overflow field when entries were taken and post positions assigned Wednesday.

Trainer Graham Motion has three of the 13 entered for the turf, a trio topped by Empressof the Nile, who drew post 11, and Si Que Es Buena, who drew the rail. Mercilla, sixth to Empressof the Nile in the Zagora, drew post 2 for Motion. The field will be limited to 12 runners on turf. Another Broad and Team Win were entered only if the race is run on the main track.

Empressof the Nile is coming off a victory in the Zagora Stakes here Nov. 3, when she defeated 11 rivals. Empressof the Nile is 2 for 2 at Aqueduct.

“Her only head-scratcher for us was the Flower Bowl,” Motion said of the mare’s seventh-place finish behind Sistercharlie. “She didn’t run her race that day.”

Si Que Es Buena is coming off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor at Woodbine, her first start in nine months. Motion said Si Que Es Buena was given time off after the Grade 3 La Prevoyante in January with the E.P. Taylor in mind.

Si Que Es Beuna, who began her career in Peru, finished fourth in the Long Island last year, beaten just one length.

Mercilla, a 3-year-old, ran a respectable race when sixth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Empressof the Nile in the Zagora.

Trainer Tom Proctor entered the pair of Decorating and More Fun Again in the Long Island. Decorating comes out of a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Dowager at Keeneland, while More Fun Again was most recently fourth in a second-level allowance race.

Others entered in the Long Island were Beau Belle, Entropia, Lift Up, My Sister Nat, Pivotal Connection, Romantic Pursuit, and Wegetsdamunnys, who would need a scratch to get into the field.