Motion Scores with Two Spa Babies

Already off to a hot start at the meet, trainer Graham Motion kept his momentum going with a pair of 2-year-old maiden winners on Saturday, two of the six horses he started on the Whitney Day card.

"I've never run that many horses in one day at Saratoga before," said Motion. "It was a good day. It was coincidence; it just worked out that way. We kind of took a shot in a couple of stakes, but I'm pleased. They all actually ran well."

Motion, 3-for-34 during the 2013 Saratoga meet, entered Sunday's card tied for second in the trainer standings with seven victories, including the Grade 2 Lake George with Daring Dancer and the Coronation Cup with Stars Above Me. He added to his win total with juvenile colts Strong Coffee and Pride of Stride on Saturday.

"It always amuses me when people come up to you when you're running a 2-year-old at Saratoga and they say, 'Do you like your horse?'" said Motion. "I mean, believe me, you wouldn't run your horse, a 2-year-old, at Saratoga if you didn't like it. It's like an oxymoron. We all like our horses if we're running them up here, but I'm always very reluctant to run them up here because I know how competitive it can be. I felt pretty good about running those guys yesterday."

A juvenile son of Warrior's Reward owned by Albert Frassetto, Strong Coffee was purchased for $120,000 in March. He came from mid-pack to reel in pace-setting Cordero and drew clear to a three-length victory in 1:44.32 for 1 1/16 miles on the Mellon Turf.

Motion said the effort is likely to earn Strong Coffee a start in the Grade 2, $200,000 With Anticipation on August 28, over the same course and distance.

"He really struggled on the dirt when I brought him up here," said Motion. "We always had in our mind that he was probably more of a grass horse. He comes from a grass family. We took him over to [the] Oklahoma [turf course] and he breezed like a different horse on the grass. He also needed the two turns."

Owned by Qatar Racing, Pride of Stride was a $150,000 yearling purchase last fall at Keeneland. Third by two lengths in his July 10 debut at Delaware Park to another Motion runner, Cleveland Sound, the chestnut son of multiple Grade 1 winner Candy Ride rallied on the outside to win by a length in 1:10.85 for six furlongs on the main track.

"We actually liked him the first time we ran him but he ran very greenly," said Motion. "We felt if he moved forward he would belong. The fact that up here you can run six furlongs is a big help, because you can't really do that anywhere else. I haven't thought about where to go next. I'm not sure if I'll run him back in the [Grade 1, $350,000 Hopeful on Sept. 1]. He looks like a horse that's also going to like two turns."