Trainer Motion has four turf runners for Breeders' Cup
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Graham Motion went an excellent 5-2-2 with his 13 turf runners at the Keeneland meet that ended Oct. 29, and Motion has four more grass horses for the Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and Saturday at Keeneland.
G Laurie starts in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, which Motion won in 2019 with Sharing; Nagirroc will run in the Juvenile Turf; and, on Saturday, Motion has two starters, Highland Chief and Bye Bye Melvin, for the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Two of Motion’s four Breeders’ Cup wins came in Turf: Better Talk Now won the 2014 renewal and Main Sequence was the 2014 winner. A month ago, Motion wouldn’t have known he’d have even one horse for the Turf, but Bye Bye Melvin earned a slot with a second-place finish to fellow Turf starter War Like Goddess on Oct. 9 in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, and Highland Chief bounced back into better form with a course-and-distance win here Oct. 14 in the Sycamore Stakes.
Highland Chief got a dream run in the Sycamore, saving ground all the way and coming up the fence when a wide gap opened in upper stretch to win by one length, his second victory this year after being imported from England for his 2022 campaign.
Two things helped Highland Chief improve upon his fourth-place finish July 31 in the Bowling Green at Saratoga: More distance and less heat. While Highland Chief won the Grade 1 Man o’ War in May at Belmont Park over 1 3/8 miles, Motion thinks 1 1/2 miles is his trip. And though a mild illness forced Highland Chief to miss the Hirsch and instead target the Sycamore, the 5-year-old gelding has been thriving since summer’s end.
“He’s doing really well, that horse. I hadn’t seen him since he ran until this morning, and he’s pretty sharp,” Motion said after Highland Chief had a dirt gallop Sunday late in training hours. Motion said it was the horse’s character as much as Sunday being his first morning on Keeneland’s main track that caused Highland Chief to crane his head, looking around, as he galloped. “That’s him. He can be a little quirky. He’s in good form. He really struggled over the summer. He did not like the heat at all.”
Bye Bye Melvin missed more than a year’s racing before returning with a three-start 2022 campaign, his second in the Turf Classic and an allowance win the start before producing the highest speed figures of his career. Bye Bye Melvin led on a tepid pace last out and Motion said it was “hard to imagine he won’t be” on the lead Saturday. “He’ll gallop all day,” Motion said
Nagirroc was unearthed by John Panagot, a jockey agent and racing manager, and purchased privately by Madaket Stables, Little Red Feather Racing, and William Strauss after a second-place finish in a Horseshoe Indianapolis maiden turf sprint Aug. 22. Motion trained him for three weeks, ran him in a Belmont at the Big A six-furlong turf race Sept. 24, and got an easy front-running win.
Back Oct. 9 in the Futurity, another six-furlong turf sprint, Nagirroc sat just behind the leaders before rallying on the outside for a neck victory. The colt, by Lea, worked once between the maiden race and the Futurity, and a five-furlong breeze on Oct. 28 at Motion’s Fair Hill Training Center base was just his second timed workout for Motion. The way Nagirroc went about the work provided the final push for connections to choose the one-mile Juvenile Turf, Nagirroc’s route debut, over the 5 1/2-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint.
“I think it’s a little tough to cut back with a horse you think wants to go farther. When I breezed him Friday, I was pretty surprised how settled he was. It gave me more confidence to think about the stretch-out,” Motion said.
Manny Franco, who told Motion that Nagirroc would appreciate more ground, rides the colt Friday. William Buick has the mount on G Laurie, John Velazquez rides Highland Chief, and Feargal Lynch will be aboard Bye Bye Melvin.
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