Motion: Main Sequence retaining his form

Main Sequence may be a sharper horse in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita than he was winning the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Sept. 27.

“If anything, he seems like he’s progressed from his races,” trainer Graham Motion said on Sunday.

Main Sequence is unbeaten in three starts this year, and is the best domestic hope for the BC Turf over 1 1/2 miles. The race is expected to draw a strong international group, including defending champion Magician; Flintshire, the runner-up in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 5; and Telescope, second in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in July.

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Main Sequence, second in the 2012 English Derby, has emerged as the dominant turf marathoner in the United States this year. Prior to the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, he won two other Grade 1 races – the United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park in July and the Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga in August.

Last Friday, Main Sequence breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40 at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland, his first work since the Joe Hirsch.

“That’s the way we do it,” Motion said. “I don’t breeze for three weeks after a race. He did it very easily. I wasn’t looking for a whole lot. He’s race fit.”

The pre-entries for the BC Turf will be announced at Santa Anita on Wednesday. The race will be run there Nov. 1.

John Velazquez will ride Main Sequence in the Breeders' Cup, Motion said. Rajiv Maragh, who rode Main Sequence in all three of his U.S. wins, has a broken arm, and on Monday he said he will not be recovered in time to ride in the Breeders' Cup.

- additional reporting by David Grening