Time and Motion targets New York Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 1 winner Time and Motion will scratch from Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth and instead will start in next Friday’s Grade 2, $500,000 New York Stakes at Belmont Park, trainer Jimmy Toner said Friday.

Toner said he thought Time and Motion would be compromised by breaking from post 13 in a field of 14 entered in the Eatontown. Toner said the outside post and running back just three weeks after a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 13 made the Eatontown less attractive than the New York.

“Too many negatives,” Toner said. “She could use the extra week. Let’s face it, there’s no such thing as an easy spot. When we drew the outside post, that took care of that.”

Time and Motion won the Wonder Again over this course last spring and then finished second, beaten a half-length by Catch a Glimpse, in the Belmont Oaks Invitational.

“At least it’s a distance she’s competitive at over a track she likes,” Toner said.

Others expected for the New York include Achnaha, Apple Betty, Dacita, Hawksmoor, Kitten’s Roar, Quidura, Sea Calisi, Suffused, and Summersault.