Ring Weekend Back in Form for Motion

Ring Weekend, second to the very impressive Tourist on July 18 in the $100,000 Sir Cat turf stakes, has come back in good form for trainer Graham Motion and may return for another stakes race later in the meet, according to assistant trainer Alice Clapham.

A likely spot would be the $100,000 Better Talk Now, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds on August 20. That race is named for Motion's 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf winner, who ranks among his favorite horses and is turned out in a paddock near his barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.

Ring Weekend won the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and was under consideration for the Kentucky Derby when he finished second in the Calder Derby on turf. His connections ultimately skipped the Run for the Roses and ran in the Preakness, where Ring Weekend was bumped and steadied in a rough-trip fifth-place finish.

After that, Motion sent Ring Weekend out in the Grade 3 Pegasus on dirt at Monmouth Park, and the Tapit gelding pulled up in the stretch after setting the pace.

The performance in the Sir Cat showed Ring Weekend was back on track and likely headed to more turf racing.

"We were very happy with the way he ran, especially after the race at Monmouth," Clapham said. "He ran huge. We were just happy that he put his mind back in the game. I think that horse of Mott's [Tourist] is a very nice horse."

The Motion barn has an intriguing English import, Stars Above Me, set to run July 30 in the $100,000 Coronation Cup, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies.

Despite only having one victory in five starts overseas, Stars Above Me has hit the board in four of those starts - all of which came against males.

"They wanted to bring her over here and get some black type with her," Clapham said. "She got here last week."

Bobby Flay's Auld Alliance and Gallagher Stud's multiple graded stakes winner Inimitable Romanee are both on track to run August 3 in the $100,000 1 ½-mile Waya turf stakes for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up. Both will van up for the race from Fair Hill.