Motion makes annual Maryland move

Trainer Graham Motion recently completed another annual migration, shipping dozens of horses from Florida to Maryland to kick off the spring racing season. Combining his Florida string with those already stabled at the Fair Hill Training Center over the winter, he estimated that he now has 70 horses training in Maryland.

“It’s an organization, but it’s something we’ve been doing a long time,” Motion said. “I’ve been doing it since the old Gulfstream, so it’s been a while.”

When turf racing returns to tracks further up the East Coast in the spring, Motion sends horses from Florida to Keeneland and Fair Hill to continue their campaigns. Horses he keeps at Fair Hill typically enter races in New York and Maryland. He already has solid plans for several high-profile runners training there.

Beach Bomb, a 5-year-old mare from South Africa, ran in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last year and took a few months off before starting her 2025 campaign at Gulfstream. She earned her first two victories in the United States last month in a pair of Grade 3 stakes, The Very One and the Orchid. Motion said he is now preparing her for the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay on May 2 at Aqueduct.

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“I didn’t realize quite how well she would take to the track down there,” Motion said. “It obviously really suited her, but I also think she’s done better. The time has done her a world of good.”

Gimme a Nother, another South African mare who won seven straight races in her home nation, made her U.S. debut last month and finished second in the Grade 2 Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs. Motion said her next start will be the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 4 at Aqueduct.

The trainer also is targeting several races on the Preakness Day card at Pimlico. Sparkle Blue traveled to Fair Hill earlier than others and ran last weekend in the Dahlia, finishing second in Laurel’s first turf stakes of the season. She and 5-year-old mare Queen of the Mud could both return in the Grade 3 Gallorette, while Trikari, a 4-year-old colt, could make his second start of 2025 in the Grade 3 Dinner Party.

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