Weather will determine Motion's participation in Nownownow Stakes

Trainer Graham Motion has a pair entered in Sunday’s Nownownow Stakes at Monmouth Park, and he holds two aces with Wootton Asset and Jimmy P. – if he chooses to play them. The $150,000 Nownownow is a mile turf stakes for 2-year-olds.

Wootton Asset and Jimmy P could be the favorites in the Nownownow if Motion were to run them both, but that seems an unlikely scenario as the veteran conditioner weighs his options and assesses the weather. Wootton Asset is cross-entered in Saturday’s Laurel Futurity, and Motion told Monmouth publicity director Tom Luicci on Friday that he had not yet decided on which race to run the son of Wootton Bassett, if either, and that decision impacts the status of Jimmy P.

“We were told that [Wootton Asset] doesn’t like soft ground,” Motion told Luicci. “So my inclination would be to run him at Monmouth, depending on whether there is more rain or not and depending on how that turf course is. So I’m pretty much on the fence about what we’re going to do, if we’re going to send one. We’ll only send one or the other or not at all.”

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Wootton Asset scored in 2 of 4 starts in France, while Jimmy P earned a 73 Beyer Speed Figure when third in his Belmont Park debut, easily the best turf figure any of the 10 entrants in the Nownownow has posted to date.

Mischievous Dream comes off a win in the Sorority Stakes, and though that was against fillies she won her maiden in her debut against males. She was off the board in the Bolton Landing in her next start, but the daughter of Into Mischief was game in the Sorority, overcoming traffic trouble to score.

Chris DeCarlo rides Mischievous Dream for trainer Christophe Clement.

The Nownownow Stakes is named after the colt who won the inaugural running of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf over the Momouth Park turf course in 2007. The 11th of 12 races on Sunday, the Nownownow has a scheduled post of 5:12 p.m. Eastern. Sunday’s first post for the second card of the Meadowlands-at-Monmouth meet is 12:50 p.m.

The full field for the Nownownow, from the rail out, is Depository (Nik Juarez rides), Zippy Baby (Isaac Castillo), Mischievous Dream, Wootton Asset (Hector Diaz Jr.), No One to Blame (Jorge Vargas Jr.), Its a Gamble (no rider), Jimmy P (no rider), Kingdom Warrior (Carlos Hernandez), Light Us Up (Antonio Gallardo), and It Can Be Done (Jose Ferrer).