Motion sends trio in Hilltop Stakes

BALTIMORE – The national spotlight focuses on historic Pimlico this weekend, with 15 stakes at the Baltimore track between Friday and Saturday’s cards. Graham Motion, headquarted at the picturesque Fair Hill Training Center about an hour from the racetrack, is among the locally based trainers who plan to showcase their operations during the state’s headline weekend.

“Next to the Breeders’ Cup, this is probably my favorite weekend,” Motion said. “Year in and year out, we’re lucky enough to have participants in these races, and it’s something we certainly like to point for.”

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Motion’s 10 entries on the Friday program include a trio for the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes (race 12) for 3-year-old fillies on the turf, led by a formidable favorite in Thewayiam.

Since arriving in the United States from her native France, Thewayiam has won four of her six starts, including a trio of stakes at Gulfstream Park earlier this year, the Ginger Brew, Grade 3 Sweetest Chant, and Grade 3 Herecomesthebride. Most recently, she finished second to Rushing Fall in the Grade 2 Appalachian Stakes on a yielding Keeneland turf course, boding well for her prospects Friday with rain in the forecast this week. Thewayiam earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 88 for the Appalachian, also the best number in the Hilltop field this season by a full 10 points.

Jose Ortiz, aboard Thewayiam for all her stakes performances this season, retains the mount Friday.

Motion also will saddle Peach of a Gal, who won an allowance race at Laurel two weeks ago, and Secret Message, making her first start for his barn after most recently winning a Turfway Park allowance for trainer Michael Brian. Secret Message will be ridden by Javier Castellano.

Skipat: Ms Locust Point maturing

Graded stakes winners Ms Locust Point and Vertical Oak lead a well-matched field for the $100,000 Skipat Stakes (race 5) for fillies and mares going six furlongs on dirt Friday.

The Skipat and the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint kick off the renewed Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship Series, an assortment of 25 races at tracks in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania that originally debuted in 1997 and ran for five years.

Ms Locust Point posted the biggest victory of her career earlier this season in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie on a muddy track at Laurel to cap a four-race win streak. She is looking to rebound in the Skipat after finishing eighth in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes at Keeneland.

“She’s maturing and learning how to settle a little more,” trainer John Servis said. “She’s becoming a better racehorse. She looks like a colt, and she’s got a pretty fast cruising speed. She can cruise along pretty good and just do that in hand comfortably.

“When we first got her, about the third time we breezed her she did it so nice and well in hand. She was a little rambunctious then, so we kind of thought if we could teach her to settle and bottle up some of that speed we’d be a lot better off in the long run.”

Vertical Oak finished third in the Carousel Stakes at Oaklawn in her season debut. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Vertical Oak won the Grade 3 Miss Preakness Stakes on this card last year. She later added the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes over the summer at Saratoga.

Startwithsilver made a switch from turf to dirt this year for Linda Rice and has responded with victories in three of her four starts, including a six-length romp in the Broadway Stakes against New York-breds.

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Jim McKay Turf Sprint: Hogy going strong

The 9-year-old Hogy starts in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint (race 10) as he continues the latest iteration of his career. The Jim McKay Turf Sprint is for 3-year-olds and up going five furlongs.

Hogy was claimed by trainer Mike Maker at Saratoga last summer and has finished first or second in five of his seven starts for him, including victories in last year’s Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint and this year’s Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream. His only unplaced efforts in that span have come in Grade 1 company, as he finished 11th in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and ninth in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile last out.