Time and Motion vs. Dona Bruja in Modesty Handicap

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Two Grade 1 horses with legitimate designs on the $700,000 Beverly D. Stakes next month meet Saturday at Arlington in the Modesty Handicap, a Grade 3, $100,000 prep for the Grade 1 Beverly D.

Dona Bruja was a star in Argentina and looked like she could be one in America when she made her Northern Hemisphere debut June 10 at Churchill Downs in the Mint Julep Handicap.

Time and Motion won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland last fall and had other 3-year-old form to validate that performance. She has been slow to hit full stride this year at 4 but seems poised for a productive summer.

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If the winner of the Modesty, which is contested over 1 3/16 miles, comes from outside that pair, both will have run considerably below form. There will, at most, be six others in the race, as La Piba has been cross-entered at Ellis Park and Stormin Elle could opt for a Saturday allowance race at Arlington.

KEY CONTENDERS

Dona Bruja, by Storm Embrujado
Beyer: 103

◗ Trainer Ignacio Correas is an Argentine import himself. His brother manages the Argentine farm of owner Ivan Gasparotto, who races as Dom Felipe LLC, and that is how Correas came to train Dona Bruja early this year. Her arrival, Correas said, was like a dream come true.

“She was a star in Argentina, very popular, very special,” he said. “Before I even dreamed she would come to America, I thought she was one of the best grass fillies in Argentina the last 20 or 25 years.”

◗ Declan Cannon rides Dona Bruja on Saturday. He rode her in the Mint Julep and was aboard for what was supposed to be an easy half-mile work early this spring. Correas suggested Cannon shoot for a 49-second drill, and when asked how fast he thought he had worked after the breeze was over, Cannon thought he’d hit his mark. “She went in 47, galloped out in 59 and change,” Correas said. “That’s how she is. You have to be careful.”

◗ It typically takes a good six months for a South American import to acclimate to North America. The Beverly D. falls about six months after Dona Bruja came to the U.S., and the goal has been to get her to that race in peak condition.

In the Mint Julep, Dona Bruja sat on the rail, well in hand, then clipped past the good filly Believe in Bertie with ease. “We ran her in that race just to give her a race before the Modesty,” Correas said. “She got it done anyway.”

Time and Motion, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 98-94-93

◗ Time and Motion is winless in her last three starts, but the bloom is not off her rose. The Matriarch last fall in California probably was a bridge too far; the Jenny Wiley, her 4-year-old debut, was meant as a stepping-stone; and the May 13 Beaugay, in which Time and Motion finished a close third behind two very high-quality rivals, Hawksmoor and Dacita, came on wet turf that Time and Motion does not really like.

“Her last race wasn’t bad at all,” trainer Jimmy Toner said. “She’s ready to go forward.”

◗ Time and Motion might not have come to Arlington had she not developed a low-grade fever while preparing for the New York Stakes last month at Belmont. That race ruled out, Toner changed his summer goal from the Diana at Saratoga to the Beverly D. at Arlington and decided to give the filly a local prep.