Time and Motion seeks top form in Beaugay Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – On paper – and over a firm turf course – Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park came up a stronger race than its grade or purse would suggest.

The field attracted Grade 1 winners Miss Temple City, Dacita, and Time and Motion as well as Grade 2 winner Rainha Da Bateria and Hawksmoor. But if the forecast for rain proves accurate, Miss Temple City is certain to scratch, and it’s uncertain if Dacita will start.

J.J. Toner, the trainer of Time and Motion, certainly wouldn’t mind seeing either or both out.

“The more we can take away, the better it is,” Toner said.

Time and Motion is seeking a return to top form in the Beaugay, run at 1 1/16 miles over the Belmont inner turf. Last year, Time and Motion won the Wonder Again Stakes here and then ran very well when second in the Belmont Oaks. She won the Grade 2 Lake Placid at Saratoga and the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup before finishing her season with a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Matriarch at Del Mar.

Time and Motion appeared to come to hand quicker than anticipated this winter, so Toner ran her in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland off the layoff; she finished sixth behind Dickinson.

Toner believes Time and Motion has a tendency to lose focus in her races, so he is adding blinkers to the filly’s equipment for the Beaugay. Toner said he thought about adding blinkers for a long time, but he wasn’t going to make a change when she won five races.

“Now is the time to give it a try,” Toner said. “She breezed good in them; it’s just to keep her mind focused.”

Time and Motion has raced over a yielding turf course once, as a 2-year-old in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She finished fifth, beaten less than two lengths.

“I don’t think it’ll bother her if it does rain,” Toner said.

Trainer Chad Brown earlier in the week expressed concern about bringing Grade 1 winner Dacita back over a soft turf course. He indicated Thursday that he wants to wait and see the weather before making a decision.

Brown still does have Rainha Da Bateria, who won the Grade 2 Canadian over ground labeled “good” last October at Woodbine.

Trainer Shug McGaughey has the uncoupled entry of On Leave and All in Fun in the Beaugay. On Leave won her first four starts last year before finishing fourth, beaten five lengths, in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland last October, her most recent start.

“I don’t think she handled the turf that day, and she was in some trouble, and I think it being the end of the year, too,” McGaughey said.

All in Fun finished last in the Grade 3 Athenia on soft turf here last October, but McGaughey said the trip, more than the ground, was responsible for the performance. McGaughey has Javier Castellano named to ride; Castellano has four wins and a second from six rides aboard All is Fun.