Graham Motion | Horse Racing Free Tips

Gretzky The Great, Alda Score In Juvenile Turf Stakes At Woodbine

Two-year-olds Gretzky the Great and Alda shared the spotlight on Sunday as Woodbine hosted the $100,000 Soaring Free Stakes and filly companion Catch a Glimpse.

The 6 1/2-furlong sprints contested on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course at the Toronto, Ontario, racetrack, both ended in exciting finishes. They are local preps for the upcoming Grade 1 Summer and Natalma, a pair of Breeders' Cup Challenge Series “Win And You're In” one-mile turf stakes set for September 20.

Gretzky the Great was all class, just like his legendary namesake, in winning his first stakes assignment with Kazushi Kimura aboard for trainer Mark Casse and owners Gary Barber and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.

In the Soaring Free, Gretzky the Great settled behind the front-striding Into the Sunrise through fractions of :23.16 and :45.51 before kicking into action down the lane. Gaining with every stride as the wire approached, the talented Casse trainee collared Into the Sunrise for the victory in 1:13.83.

Gretzky the Great paid $6.70 to win. He was sent postward as the 2-1 second choice to Victoria Stakes champion Ready to Repeat, who finished 1 1/4 lengths behind the top pair in third. Gospel Way and Exceed completed the order of finish.

The Ontario-bred youngster was a runner-up to Ready to Repeat in his career debut on July 12 and has now won back-to-back starts. The lion's share of the purse more than doubled his bankroll, which reached six-figures.

“I was so satisfied the last time and today that was the best performance of his life,” said Kimura.

Bred by Anderson Farms, the Nyquist colt is out of the multiple stakes placed Bernardini mare Pearl Turn.

Alda winning the Catch a Glimpse

Woodbine newcomer Alda later defeated 4-5 favorite Dreaming of Drew by a head bob in the Catch a Glimpse for trainer Graham Motion and owner/breeder Wertheimer et Frere.

With Steven Bahen aboard, Alda trailed the field of six fillies early on while Illegal Smile was pressed by Road to Romance on the front through a quarter in :22.20 and half-mile in :44.74. Meanwhile, 4-5 favorite Dreaming of Drew was biding her time in third behind the top pair.

While the rail appeared to open up down the stretch for Dreaming of Drew, she went outside of Illegal Smile to take over command with a sixteenth to go, but Bahen timed his own bid just right with the late-charging Alda, who edged out the favorite by a nose in a photo finish. The final time was 1:14 flat.

Sent postward as the 5-2 second choice following a maiden-breaking victory on July 9 at Belmont Park, Alda returned $7.30 to win. Illegal Smile settled for third 1-1/4 lengths back, while Emmeline, Road to Romance and Purrsuade Me completed the order of finish. Ostracize was a late scratch.

While the finish was too close to call for Bahen, he expected the big stretch run from the promising filly.

“I had talked to [Graham Motion] this morning and I watched her races yesterday,” said Bahen. “She's got a real big kick and we discussed that we should just be off the pack, three or four off would be nice. I ended up being a little further back than I wanted to, and she gave me that run she has.

“It was my first time on her, and she was pretty classy,” added the veteran reinsman.

Bred in Kentucky, the Munnings–Soldata filly now has two wins from three career starts with earnings climbing over the $100,000 mark.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues at Woodbine on Thursday with post time for the first of eight races set for 3:20 p.m. Racing Night Live begins at 6 p.m. on TSN with the two-hour broadcast covering action from Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park.

The post Gretzky The Great, Alda Score In Juvenile Turf Stakes At Woodbine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Munnings ‘Rising Star’ Gets the Bob in Catch a Glimpse

‘TDN Rising Star’ Alda got up in the shadow of the wire to take Sunday’s Catch a Glimpse S. narrowly over a fellow granddaughter of Speightstown in Dreaming of Drew (Speightster). A fast-finishing third against the boys going five grassy furlongs at Belmont June 12, the chestnut broke through convincingly over an extra eighth of a mile there July 9.

Drifting up to 5-2 at the off after vying for favoritism early with big-figure second-out graduate Dreaming of Drew, the Wertheimer homebred dropped out the back early and a snug Steven Bahen hold. She scraped paint while advancing into the stretch, and drafted behind Dreaming of Drew at the head of the lane as that one tried desperately to get off the inside and reel in pacesetter Illegal Smile (Ire) (Camacho {GB}). Alda veered out wide as Dreaming of Drew struck the front, and she kept coming to get in a photo that to the naked eye seemed like it may have gone the other way.

“I had talked to [trainer Graham Motion] this morning and I watched her races yesterday,” said Bahen. “She’s got a real big kick and we discussed that we should just be off the pack, three or four off would be nice. I ended up being a little further back than I wanted to, and she gave me that run she has.”

The winner’s dam is a full to two-turn MGSW Exhi. She produced an Into Mischief colt in 2019 and Tapit colt this season. Further down the page are a number of Canadian champions from the 1970s.

CATCH A GLIMPSE S., C$105,200, Woodbine, 8-23, 2yo, f,
6 1/2fT, 1:14.00, fm.
1–ALDA, 120, f, 2, by Munnings
                1st Dam: Soldata, by Maria’s Mon
                2nd Dam: Soldera, by Polish Numbers
                3rd Dam: La Pepite, by Mr. Prospector
‘TDN Rising Star‘ 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O/B-Wertheimer et
Frere (KY); T-H. Graham Motion; J-Steven Ronald Bahen.
C$60,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-1, $88,413. *1/2 t
Alignement (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), GSW-Fr, SP-Qa, $408,561.
2–Dreaming of Drew, 120, f, 2, Speightster–Dreaming of Liz, by
El Prado Ire). ($95,000 RNA Ylg ’19 FTKJUL). O-Hoolie Racing
Stable, LLC; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (ON); T-Barbara J. Minshall.
C$24,000.
3–Illegal Smile (Ire), 118, f, 2, Camacho (GB)–Fine If (Ire), by
Iffraaj (GB). (€35,000 Ylg ’19 GOFOR). O-Hat Creek Racing;
B-W. Maxwell Ervine (IRE); T-Wesley A. Ward. C$11,000.
Margins: NO, 1 1/4, 7. Odds: 2.65, 0.90, 6.55.
Also Ran: Emmeline, Road to Romance, Purrsuade Me. Scratched: Ostracize.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

The post Munnings ‘Rising Star’ Gets the Bob in Catch a Glimpse appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘One Of Those Races You Aspire To Win’: Motion Readying Mean Mary, Secret Message For Diana

Trainer Graham Motion has reached the heights of the sport, winning four Breeders' Cup races along with the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. But the Diana, for older fillies and mares on turf at Saratoga, is one prestigious race that has eluded him.

After saddling the runner-up finisher on five occasions, Motion will look to break through, sending out two contenders in Mean Mary and Secret Message in Sunday's 82nd running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana going 1 1/8 miles on the Mellon turf course.

Motion has come as close as possible to training the winner of the Diana without having a horse cross the wire first, with Ultra Brat losing by a nose to Sistercharlie in 2018. Quidura (2017), Shared Account (2010), and Sweet Talker (2006) all lost by a head, while Aruna was beaten 1 1/2 lengths in a second-place effort in 2011.

Even before his training career, Motion experienced bad beats in the Diana. Working for trainer Jonathan Sheppard, Motion was the exercise rider of the filly Wooing, who as a 32-1 shot finished first in the race in 1989 but was disqualified for interference and placed behind Glowing Honor.

“Since I've worked for Jonathan Sheppard, it's been a race I've always pointed horses towards,” Motion said. “I even galloped a filly that got disqualified in this race, so it's been a bit of a nemesis for me. It's one of those races that you aspire to win. It's a race that has amazing history and with me training turf horses, and specifically turf fillies, it's always been a race that I've wanted to try and win and try to compete in every year.”

Motion's contenders make up one-third of the small-but-accomplished six-horse field that features the Chad Brown-trained duo of 3-2 favorite Rushing Fall and Sistercharlie [5-2], who will be looking to become the first horse in the Diana's history to win it three consecutive years.

Alex G. Campbell, Jr.'s Mean Mary drew the outside post with Luis Saez aboard. Listed at 3-1, she enters 3-for-3 in her 4-year-old campaign and with four consecutive wins overall dating to a December victory over optional claimers at Gulfstream Park.

In her 2020 bow, she wired a 10-horse field going 1 ½ miles to win the Grade 3 La Prevoyante by five lengths in January at Gulfstream and again won over the track in the 1 3/8-mile Grade 3 Orchid in March. Last out, she was shortened to 1 ¼ miles and responded with a stellar 5 ¼-length score in the Grade 2 New York that netted Mean Mary her first career triple digit Beyer Speed Figure at 101.

Since making her debut running fifth on dirt in September, Mean Mary has won five of her six turf starts and came in second in the other; a one-mile allowance contest in November at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“She impressed me when she broke her maiden and she's just continued to improve,” Motion said. “When she ran in the stake the first time [the La Prevoyante], it was more about the races that were available to her, and I just had a feeling she'd handle the extra distance and she handled it well.”

After proving she likes longer distances, Motion said the 1 1/8-mile Diana will be a good indicator as he prepares her for a potential start in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/16-miles in November at Keeneland.

“She's been pointing to this race for a long time,” Motion said. “With the Breeders' Cup, I need to find out if she can handle these shorter distances. She certainly did before we started running her at these longer races, but not at this level. She's trained really well for this race and hasn't really missed a beat.”

Secret Message, owned by Madaket Stables, Heider Family Stables, ERJ Racing, Elayne Stables Five and Steve Bouchey, is the longest shot on the board in the Diana at 20-1, drawing post 2 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard.

The 5-year-old daughter of Hat Trick is also coming off a short turnaround after running third in last week's Perfect Sting at the Spa. After running sixth in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on July 11 at Keeneland, won by Rushing Fall, Secret Message earned blacktype in the 1 1/16-mile Perfect Sting on August 14 and will wheel right back.

“The racing this year has been different because it's come up so competitive even though it's listed races,” Motion said. “We feel like we haven't been able to run her as much as we normally would. The fact that she's a big, robust filly; we felt she could handle a quick turnaround. She really ran the last quarter-mile last weekend and really sprinted home. She sprinted home as fast as anyone.”

Motion is approaching 2,500 career wins [2,477 entering Friday] and won the 2011 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, who also ran second in that year's Grade 1 Preakness. He has earned placing in the other two American Classics, saddling runner-up Irish War Cry in the 2017 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Icabad Crane to a third-place effort in the 2008 Preakness. He won last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Sharing and is a two-time winner of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf with Main Sequence (2014) and Better Talk Now (2004). Shared Account won the 2010 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

The post ‘One Of Those Races You Aspire To Win’: Motion Readying Mean Mary, Secret Message For Diana appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Pastures of Point Lookout Honors Wyeth Memory

After spending many years helping to teach incarcerated inmates life skills and equine care, a lot of 10 retired Thoroughbreds boarded a van July 23 bound for Pasture of Point Lookout, a Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania-based sanctuary farm founded by world-renowned artist Jamie Wyeth in memory of his late wife Phyllis. On the anniversary of her passing Mr. Wyeth turned to longtime friends, Graham and Anita Motion of Herringswell Stables.

“To honor my late wife, Phyllis Mills Wyeth and her Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags, I am transforming our farm into a retirement sanctuary for racehorses,” Jamie Wyeth explained. “I view Pastures of Point Lookout as a lasting reminder of the contributions to the world of horse racing by Phyllis and her champion, Union Rags.”

Anita Motion will serve PPL as its executive director. The farm used by PPL has been modified to support the “pasture lifestyle” to which the TRF horses have become accustomed over their many years at the TRF Second Chances Program at Wallkill.

“It has been a remarkable experience to participate in the creation of Pastures of Point Lookout and to enable Mr. Wyeth to realize his dream for a legacy in his wife’s honor,” said Anita Motion. “Watching the horses step off the van on Tuesday and soak in the beauty of their new home was genuinely like experiencing a dream come true.”

The horses will live together, as they did for so many years at Wallkill, in a natural pasture setting. Run-in sheds will provide shelter from the sun and inclement weather, water is available from a nearby stream flowing through the farm, and the two full-time farm managers will manage their hay and grain, to supplement the abundant grass of their 20 acre pasture. All expenses for the operation of the farm along with the feed, farrier and veterinary care required by these horses will be covered by Pastures of Point Lookout according to the TRF’s Adoption Policies.

“When I first received Anita’s call to share this idea in late January of this year, I could scarcely believe what I was hearing. It simply seemed too good to be true,” said Kim Weir, Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving at the TRF. “In less than six months, and despite all the challenges we have faced around the world in 2020 due to COVID-19, the dream has become a reality. With this bold and generous gesture, Mr. Wyeth has given ten horses the happiest possible final chapter of their lives while saving twenty total – the ten adopted by PPL, and the next ten retired racehorses that the TRF can accept into our herd to take their places over the months ahead.”

To learn more about adopting a horse from the TRF at https://www.trfinc.org/adoptretire/

The post Pastures of Point Lookout Honors Wyeth Memory appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post