Motion Readies Saratoga Stakes Runners
H. Graham Motion enters the second half of the Saratoga meet tied for third in the trainer standings with seven wins, including a pair of stakes victories. He'll have a chance to improve both numbers next week as he has Fortune Pearl for the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday and Main Sequence for the Grade 1, $600,000 Sword Dancer Invitational for older turf horses on Sunday.
Daring Dancer is possible for the Grade 2, $300,000 Knob Creek Lake Placid, a turf race for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday. All three horses won graded stakes in their most recent starts.
Motion has been methodically bringing along Zanim R. Meahjohn's Fortune Pearl, who won the Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile Delaware Oaks by two lengths on July 5 after finishing third in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan in May at Pimlico.
"The idea was that we'd bring her up here at the beginning of the meet so she could work up here," Motion said of Fortune Pearl. "This has been the race we have been pointing for. We'll see if she can step up, but I do think she'll be able to handle the distance. She's by Mineshaft and seems like a filly who will handle a mile and a quarter, which, hopefully, some of the other fillies may not."
Fortune Pearl has breezed three times at Saratoga since the Delaware Oaks, including a five-furlong move in 1:02.31 on August 9, and will attempt to become the first Delaware Oaks winner to capture the 1 ¼-mile Alabama since Blind Luck in 2010 and fourth in the past seven years.
"She's had three works, and I thought yesterday was her best work since she's been here," said Motion. "She's not a real flashy work horse, but she has done well."
Main Sequence, a 5-year-old Flaxman Holdings homebred, looks to double his Grade 1 tally in the 1 ½-mile Sword Dancer after making a late surge to win the Grade 1, 3/8-mile United Nations, his North American debut, by a neck on July 6 at Monmouth Park.
On Sunday, Main Sequence breezed six furlongs in 1:14 over the all-weather training track at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.
"Adrian Rolls, my assistant, was very pleased with him," said Motion. "We've been pointing for this race since he won [the United Nations]. I feel like he's doing super."
Main Sequence, who was gelded at some point after finishing second in the Group 1 Epsom Derby and fifth in the Group 1 St Leger as a 3-year-old, has competed successfully at the Sword Dancer's 1 ½-mile distance, having won the 2012 Group 3 Derby Trial over the all-weather at Lingfield and finishing second by a neck in that year's Group 2 Great Voltigeur at York and fourth by 1 ¼ lengths in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris. He was trained overseas by David Lanigan.
"I think there's some question as to what his best distance is," said Motion. "He certainly handled the [1 3/8-mile] distance at Monmouth. I don't see a mile and a half being a problem for him, especially on firm turf on a tight course."
Motion said he is unsure whether he will run Sagamore Farm homebred Daring Dancer in the Knob Creek Lake Placid, a 1 1/8-mile turf race, on Saturday. Daring Dancer won Saratoga's Grade 2 Lake George by a neck on July 23.
"I'm a little bit on the fence about [running Daring Dancer in the Knob Creek Lake Placid] because it's coming back quite quickly," said Motion. "I'm going to see in the next day or two before I decide whether she is going to run in there. I've been fairly conservative with her."