Motion picks easier spot for Three Priests in Athenia

Coming off a respectable third-place finish in the Grade 3 Ladies Marathon at Kentucky Downs in her United States debut last month, Three Priests may have found a little bit easier spot to make her second stateside start when she run in Saturday’s $150,000 Athenia Stakes at Aqueduct.

Three Priests, who will be making her first start for trainer Graham Motion, was cross-entered in Sunday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Dowager at Keeneland but Motion, who took over the training from Roger Varian, thought the Athenia might be a better spot though it means a turnback to 1 1/8 miles.

“That’s a bit of a question,” Motion said of the distance. “I just thought that with a ship to Kentucky and the competitiveness of the [Dowager], I felt this was a more logical spot. To me, she looks like a filly that could handle the mile and a furlong and it’s certainly something we can build on from there.”

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In the Ladies Marathon, when still with Varian, Three Priests rallied from the back of the pack to finish third, 2 3/4 lengths behind Neecie Marie, who is in the Dowager. The second-place finisher was Vergara, who Motion trains.

From what Motion has seen from Three Priests in the morning, he feels she could lay a little close in the Athenia.

“If she breaks okay, she could be a little handier, she doesn’t act like a plodder in the morning,” Motion said. “She seems to have a turn of foot.”

Motion has familiarity with this family having trained the dam, Guilty Twelve, who won four races for Motion including the Grade 3 Robert Dick Memorial at Delaware Park. Motion also trains Five Towns, a half-sister to Three Priests, who has won twice for Motion and who was beaten a head in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel Stakes going one mile here on Sept. 21.

Joel Rosario will ride Three Priests, Motion said, as named rider Jorge Ruiz has to stay in Maryland Saturday.

Edict, a Group 1 winner in Argentina, makes a third attempt at making her U.S. debut for trainer David Donk. She was entered in an allowance at Saratoga and spiked a fever and had to scratch. She was in the Noble Damsel last month and a few days before that race she developed a foot abscess and had to scratch.

Donk said he was fortunate in that the abscess cleared up rather quickly and he has been able to get a couple of works into Edict since then.

“I would have preferred to have run in the summer and not have a couple of blips in the road, but she’s done well, Johnny [Velazquez] breezed her once and gave me the okay about her,” Donk said. “I just need to get her started and get a little line on her.”

Chad Brown has won seven of the last eight runnings of the Athenia and eight overall. He sends out the duo of Child of the Moon and Prerequisite in this eight-horse field. Child of the Moon is coming off a first-level allowance win at Saratoga on Sept. 2. Prerequisite came off a year layoff to win a second-level allowance race, her third win in as many tries at this 1 1/8-mile distance.

Tufani, Spirit And Glory, Papilio, and Thirty Thou Kelvin complete the competitive field.

The Athenia goes as race 10 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:10 p.m.

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