New York has been kind to Motion

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Graham Motion bases his stable at the tranquil Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., but also is quite comfortable at the urban tracks of New York.

On Saturday at Aqueduct, Motion won his 12th graded stakes of the year, and his second at the Big A within a week. Four of Motion’s graded victories this season have come in New York, including his two richest – the Grade 1 Manhattan and the Grade 2 Wood Memorial.

Motion won the Grade 3, $200,000 Red Smith on Saturday with Spring Quality, who received a well-timed ride by Edgar Prado to score by a half-length. The victory came 55 minutes after Motion won the $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes at Laurel Park with Berned.

On the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Saturday card, Motion brought Arles back from a nine-month layoff to take the Grade 3, $200,000 Long Island at Aqueduct, a 1 1/2-mile turf marathon, by 1 3/4 lengths under Nik Juarez.

Ascend, who is currently being freshened for a 2018 campaign, gave Motion his biggest win of the year in the $1 million Manhattan at Belmont Park in June. Irish War Cry won the marquee race of the Aqueduct spring meet, the $750,000 Wood Memorial.

Irish War Cry, who last started in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing, is currently being given a farm vacation, according to Motion, and will race as a 4-year-old.

“He’s getting a little break,” Motion said. “I will probably bring him down to Florida with me around the first of the year, and we’ll get him ready.”

Irish War Cry failed to win in four starts following the Wood, but he was second-best to Tapwrit in the Belmont Stakes. He has every right to come back strong at age 4.

A May foal, Irish War Cry didn’t have his first workout until September of his 2-year-old year. Following two late-season starts at Laurel Park, he jumped into the deep end of the pool in January, winning the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park in his two-turn debut. The remainder of his starts came in the division’s premier races.