Trainer Motion targets Breeders' Cup for his group of stakes winners
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Trainer Graham Motion is making plans for a bushel of stakes winners and stakes-placed runners, with some heading to Virginia and others to New York with the goal of getting several to the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in October.
When Gimme a Nother scored a front-running, 3 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3 Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park, it marked Motion’s fifth stakes winner since May 1. That run began on May 1 at Aqueduct when No Show Sammy Jo won the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay and included wins on Preakness Day at Laurel with Turf Star in the James Murphy and Warming in the Grade 3 Gallorette.
At Saratoga, during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, Motion ran one-two in the Grade 2 Intercontinental on June 4 with Roja and Italian Soiree, then two days later finished second and third in the Grade 1 Manhattan with Test Score and One Stripe.
In the Eatontown, Gimme a Nother was making her first start since winning the Grade 2 John C. Mabee last September at Del Mar. Motion had hoped to run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf thereafter, but Gimme a Nother came up sore and needed her splint bone removed. During the winter, she had more trouble.
“We had a couple of setbacks this winter, we had to move a couple of teeth,” Motion said. “That’s why it’s taken us so long to get back to the races.”
Motion loved the pace-prompting trip Gimme a Nother received from Jorge Ruiz in the Eatontown. He also loves the idea of stretching Gimme a Nother out in distance. He will skip the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga on July 18 and point to the Grade 2, $500,000 Beverly D. at Colonial Downs on Aug. 1. The Beverly D. is at 1 3/16 miles, the distance of this year’s BC Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland.
“I want to go to the Beverly D., I think she wants a little farther and I like the timing a little better,” Motion said. “The Diana comes up a little quick and we had that bad experience in Saratoga last year. It rained so badly that day and she struggled with that ground. I had PTSD going back there.”
Motion was referring to the New York Stakes, a race in June 2025 run over a yielding turf course and in which Gimme a Nother finished seventh.
Motion did not rule out a trip to New York for Gimme a Nother before the Breeders’ Cup as the Grade 2 Flower Bowl will be run at the new Belmont Park on Sept. 26.
Motion said he plans to run Manhattan runner-up Test Score in the Grade 1 Arlington Million on that same Aug. 1 Colonial card. One Stripe, third in the Manhattan, will be nominated to the Grade 3, $225,000 Kelso at Saratoga on July 5, though he, too, will be considered for the Arlington Million, Motion said.
Motion said Cruise the Nile, who had a four-race winning streak snapped when he finished third in the Grade 2 Dinner Party, will be nominated to the Kelso. Cruise the Nile is 2 for 2 at the one-mile Kelso distance.
Motion said Roja and Italian Soiree, who were separated by 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 2 Intercontinental, could go their separate ways for the next start. Roja is a candidate for the Andy Guest Stakes at Colonial Downs on Aug. 1, while Italian Soiree could return to Saratoga for the Grade 2, $250,000 Caress on July 11. Italian Soiree won the Coronation Cup as a 3-year-old when trained by John Terranova.
“She’s always run well at Saratoga, so it makes sense to go back there,” Motion said.
Motion said No Show Sammy Jo, who won the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay, suffered a soft tissue injury and is likely done racing. No Show Sammy Jo would retire with a record of 7-4-0 from 16 starts, including four stakes wins. She is a couple of tough trips from having won a few more stakes, including the last two runnings of the Grade 3 Long Island Stakes.
Motion said that Warming, the Gallorette winner, is likely going to make her start in the Anchorage Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 27 while Turf Star, the Murphy winner, will head to the Kent Stakes at Delaware Park the same day.
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