Motion to debut Irish War Cry sibling from 'a terrific family'
Irish Charmer, a 2-year-old half-sister to multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Irish War Cry, is entered to make her career debut Friday at Laurel Park.
Isabelle Haskell de Tomaso’s New Jersey homebred, trained by Graham Motion, drew Post 6 in the $40,000 maiden special weight for juvenile fillies sprinting six furlongs on the main track, which attracted a field of nine. Jorge Vargas Jr. is named to ride.
Irish Charmer is a gray or roan daughter of Graydar out of the Polish Numbers mare Irish Sovereign, who produced 2018 Pimlico Special (G3), 2017 Holy Bull (G2) and 2017 Wood Memorial (G2) winner Irish War Cry as well as 2017 Red Bank (G3) winner Irish Strait, whose most recent victory came in the Henry S. Clark Stakes April 20 at Laurel. Both horses were also trained by Motion.
“The mare has been phenomenal,” he said. “It’s just a terrific family.”
Irish Charmer shows five works since Aug. 25 over the main track at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. Each of her last three works have been bullet half-mile moves in 49 seconds Sept. 7, 14 and 20 – the fastest of 29, 39 and 15 horses, respectively.
“She has done things well,” Motion said. “She’s a little bit of a handful in the morning and I think that’s why we got her a little bit later than normal, but she’s done things pretty forwardly. She’s not straightforward; she is a little quirky. I think she has plenty of ability.”
Irish Charmer is third choice in the program at 9-2 behind fellow first-time starter Jara (7-2) and Leaveuwithasmile (4-1), racing for the third time.
D J Stable’s Jara is a daughter of 2014 Florida Derby (G1) and 2015 Donn Handicap (G1) winner Constitution. She fetched $240,000 as a 2-year-old in training in April and is stabled with trainer John Servis at Parx, where she shows a dozen works since early June.
Jeremiah Englehart's Leaveuwithasmile raced twice at Saratoga this summer, finishing fifth in a pair of 5 ½-furlong sprints Aug. 9 and 30, the first on turf and the second on dirt. She remained at Saratoga following her most recent races and has worked three times over its training track, going a half in 48.41 seconds Sept. 27.