Royal Patronage leads big day for Motion's turf stars
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The Maryland-based trainer Graham Motion has won but three Churchill Downs grass stakes from 27 starters over the last five years and is winless with 14 runners since Sharing captured the Edgewood Stakes in September 2020. But Motion has two strong chances in the three Churchill turf stakes on Saturday.
His cause – as with everyone who has a horse in the three races – is aided by short fields: Just 20 horses are entered in the trio of stakes, the Regret for 3-year-old fillies (race 5), the Audubon for 3-year-olds (race 7), and the Arlington for older horses (race 9).
Before Churchill Downs Inc. closed and sold Arlington Park in suburban Chicago, the Grade 3, $225,000 Arlington Stakes, run over 1 1/16 miles Saturday, used to be the Arlington Handicap run over 1 3/16 mile in July as a local prep for the Arlington Million. Royal Patronage, Motion’s starter in the Arlington, probably can get 1 1/4 miles, the distance of the Million, but 1 1/16 is within his scope, as well.
Drawn in post 6 against just six rivals Saturday, and with John Velazquez riding for the first time, Royal Patronage makes his second start of 2023, following a very encouraging comeback win April 20 in a Keeneland allowance race. Traveling strongly from the start, but also responsive to his rider’s rating hold, Royal Patronage surged in the homestretch of a course carrying speed, switched to his wrong lead when collaring the leaders, but got straightened out the final half-furlong and saw off a late run from Commandeer. Royal Patronage won by only a neck but looked more superior than the bare margin of victory.
Royal Patronage joined Motion’s barn last summer after racing in England. At 2, he beat Coroebus, winner of the 2000 Guineas last year, and last spring in the Dante Stakes he was second to subsequent Epsom Derby winner Desert Crown. By the time Motion got the colt his form was slipping, and Royal Patronage looked like a horse in need of a break, which he got after finishing a dull seventh Sept. 6 in the Virginia Derby.
In the Arlington, he faces Classic Causeway, who beat him twice last summer. Classic Causeway returns to turf after a pair of dirt races to begin his 2023 campaign. He led wire to wire upsetting the Belmont Derby last June, beating Royal Patronage there and in the Saratoga Derby Invitational, where Classic Causeway finished a fine third.
But Classic Causeway has done all his best work on the lead, and in the Arlington he’ll either be forced to track the pace or get into a speed battle with rail drawn Get Smokin, another confirmed front-runner. Royal Patronage should get first run into the pace ahead of morning-line favorite Set Piece, a 7-year-old who has no positional pace at all, but does run well at Churchill.
Motion’s horse for the Grade 3, $225,000 Regret is the plucky filly Mission of Joy, who was 10-1 when she won a Tampa Bay turf maiden race last December and 5-1 capturing her stakes debut there March 11 in the Florida Oaks. The Kitten’s Joy filly was disregarded again May 5 in the Edgewood at Churchill, where she finished third at 7-1 and might have been best on the day.
Mission of Joy got in tight in the furlong after the start and in even tighter at the head of the homestretch – so tight that she clipped heels at the three sixteenths pole. Finding room on the far outside, she finished fastest through the final furlong, behind a front-running winner helped along by a speed-favoring course. Mission of Joy tries 1 1/8 miles for the first time and should handle the added distance.
Girl Named Charlie finished a close sixth in the Edgewood after being hopelessly stuck behind a wall of horses most of the homestretch. Papilio, 2-1 on the Regret morning line, was fourth with no apparent excuse in the Edgewood and probably doesn’t want to run quite this far.
Mark Casse trains Papilio and probably has a better chance in the $225,000 Audubon with Webslinger. Webslinger beat a considerably stronger field than this on Derby Day in the American Turf, where he overcame post 12 to get up in the final strides. Facing only six rivals Saturday over a nine-furlong trip that ought to be within his scope, Webslinger need only hold his form under regular rider Javier Castellano to notch consecutive wins.
Sharar is listed at 9-5 on the track’s morning line, a short price on a horse who faced suspect opposition in Dubai over the winter. Desert Duke failed to make the lead in the American Turf but could go clear in the Audubon, slow down the pace, and hang around until the finish. Mendelssohns March and Scoobie Quando, also-rans in the American Turf, also have room for improvement.
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