A Spotlight on Stress in the Era of COVID: Graham Motion

Working in racing has always been a stressful occupation; a roller-coaster of emotions, triumphs and tragedies, long hours and travel. Add a global pandemic and unprecedented economic worry, with many participants fearing for their health, livelihoods and businesses, and the stress can become almost overwhelming. It’s the sort of topic many people don’t like to talk about, but we asked several industry participants to open about what particular

GRAHAM MOTIONĀ 

It is a stressful sport to be involved in, but at the end of the day, it’s still a sport. We represent an important industry, but I think you have to keep things in perspective. I was listening to an interview recently by Chris Martin from Coldplay, and he said, “Every time somebody interviews me they always say, ‘Oh, you must be so stressed, or so tired from traveling.’ And I always think to myself, ‘I’m playing music. It’s what I enjoy. It’s what I do.'” So in the same way, we’re so lucky to do what we do, and we have to keep that in perspective.

Having said that, of course it’s stressful. Horses are unpredictable. People often look at me and tell me that I look stressed. I am stressed, but a lot of that is intensity. You’re always thinking of the next thing that could go wrong or trying to prevent it. Because with horses, things go wrong. You can’t control that. I have to be able to explain that to an owner, and that can be stressful. Stress at the races occurs because you want the horses to perform well, and you have to be able to explain to their owners when they don’t.

I’m constantly worried about horses getting injured. I feel a tremendous responsibility to my horses, that they stay healthy. The same goes for my riders and my employees. I have a huge payroll, close to 100 employees. I obviously have a responsibility to them and appreciate that they depend on me. When you mix that into the era of COVID and dealing with this present situation, that adds a whole new level of concern. Of course I don’t want my help to get sick. I think that was my biggest worry when this all came about– making sure that we were taking the best precautions to keep everyone healthy.

Sending Alice [Clapham, Assistant Trainer] to England with Sharing was a worry for me, partly because it involved a great deal of traveling for Alice. Of course none of us wanted her to get sick. It was an added responsibility that you feel for your employees.

There was also the stress of not knowing where we were going in terms of racing. There was a payroll to meet and there was a period where we really didn’t know what would happen. But again, you had to put it into perspective. We’re training horses. We’re outdoors. I had extremely supportive owners who never questioned anything when racing was shut down. I’m very fortunate that I play at the level that I do. I’m sure it was not that way for everyone across the board. For someone that might have only six or seven horses, I appreciate that it might have been very different for them.

I’m extremely fortunate because of the support group I have in my family. My wife is incredibly supportive. I think it would be very difficult for me to do what I do without that. When I come home on a Monday morning, after a weekend like I just had where nothing goes right, I’m scratching my head wondering if I know anything about this sport. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing it, it sometimes feels like you’re starting over. You have to rise above it, because you know things can and will turn around. We had an amazing run the month after racing started where everything seemed to click, and then a few weeks later you feel like you can’t get anything right. That’s just part of the game, and I’ve been in it long enough to know that.

Throw into that the responsibility you have to the owners, and that you want them to be successful with their investment along with a staff that depends on you success. To come home to a family and staff that supports you, doesn’t question you, and understands the mood swings that you’re going to have is so important. I have a staff that never questions my decisions (perhaps they do to themselves!), but they’re always extremely supportive. In that respect, I’m very fortunate and wouldn’t have it any other way. I can’t imagine doing this on a daily basis and not having a team that supports you because you’re constantly making gut decisions. You’re making decisions a hundred times a day and hoping you are doing the best thing for the horse and your owner’s investment. Surrounding yourself with people who support you is incredibly important.

For people just getting in the game, self-doubt can be tough. So you want people behind you that don’t question you, because you’ll already be questioning yourself enough. You have to make your own gut decisions and stick by them. At the end of the day, you love being around the horses and that’s what you enjoy. We’re so lucky to be doing what we’re doing.

I also have concerns for the jockeys who are put under a huge amount of stress. Not just through riding and wanting to perform well, but also there’s the worry of injury and presently, sickness.

We’re so quick to be critical of jockeys in our sport, and these guys are expected to perform at the top level day in and day out. What they deal with on a day-to-day basis, I don’t think any of us can get our heads around. They are competing and at the same time trying to keep their weight down, keep the owners and trainers happy, all while trying to stay positive. We find it difficult to monitor our weight just going about our daily lives, and then you take these athletes that are on a strict diet trying to stay healthy and perform in an incredibly dangerous sport.

Add to that the recent concerns of the Coronavirus, they are not making a living if they are not riding. I realize that they have a choice and that the rewards can be huge, but so can the risks. I think it’s a shame in our sport that we don’t do more to help these guys because we couldn’t operate without them. We should be doing everything we can to keep them healthy and at the very least, provide them with regular COVID testing. These are complicated times and as an industry, we should be going out of our way to support the participants.

Would you like to share your thoughts on stress during this particularly difficult time? Email the TDN’s Katie Ritz atĀ katieritz@thetdn.comĀ or Sue Finley atĀ suefinley@thetdn.com.

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Catā€™s Pajamas Looks to Take Next Step in Lake Placid

Cat’s Pajamas (Street Sense) looks to score her third straight win as she steps up to black-type company Sunday in the GII Lake Placid S. at Saratoga. Off the board in her first two attempts on the main track for former trainer Bill Mott, the bay was transferred to Graham Motion, who switched her to the grass. Graduating in her turf bow at Churchill May 17, she captured an allowance on the lawn at Belmont June 14.

Lashara (GB) (American Pharoah) was the runner-up in that Belmont allowance and takes another crack at her foe here. Eighth when unveiled in a main track sprint at Gulfstream Mar. 15, she broke her maiden next out on that venue’s turf course Apr. 11.

Speaktomeofsummer (Summer Front) hopes to make amends for a fourth-place finish in Belmont’s GIII Wonder Again S. June 20. Graduating at second asking in her first try on turf at Monmouth Sept. 28, the $135,000 KEENOV buy captured Aqueduct’s Chelsey Flower S. Nov. 3 and was making her seasonal bow last time in the Wonder Again.

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Munnings Filly Earns Rising Star Tag at Belmont

ALDA (Munnings) became the newest ‘TDN Rising Star’ Thursday with a decisive score at Belmont Park. Rallying to be third on debut in a five-panel event at this oval June 12, she was hammered down to even-money to improve over an extra furlong here. Saving ground in a joint third, the homebred was several lengths off the dueling leaders through a sharp first quarter in :21.89. Closing the gap entering the backstretch, the homebred split horses with a three-wide move turning for home and overtook Illegal Smile (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) in the lane, rolling clear to win by 2 1/2 lengths.

“Johnny [Velazquez] said she was much more professional today,” trainer Graham Motion said in a post-race interview with NYRA’s Maggie Wolfendale. “Last time, she just broke a tad slow which cost her and he kind of had to rush her a little bit. Today, she broke much better. Actually, Johnny said she was pretty sharp the first part, but he could do whatever he wanted, which really helped. She was pretty professional, I thought.”

He continued, “My theory with the 2-year-olds is if they take you to the races, just go with it, and she’s done everything right. She’s such a pro in the mornings, she makes me look good, I think.”

The winner is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Alignement (GB) (Pivotal {GB}). Her dam Soldata, a half-sister to MGSW sire Exhi (Maria’s Mon), produced an Into Mischief colt named Serifos in 2019 and a Tapit colt in 2020.

 

1st-Belmont, $64,000, Msw, 7-9, 2yo, f, 6fT, 1:08.82, fm.

ALDA, f, 2, by Munnings

Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  1st Dam: Soldata, by Maria’s Mon

Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  2nd Dam: Soldera, by Polish Numbers

Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  3rd Dam: La Pepite, by Mr. Prospector

Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $42,880. O/B-Wertheimer et Frere (KY); T-H. Graham Motion. *1/2 to Alignement (GB) (Pivotal (GB)), GSW-Fr, SP-Qa, $408,561. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Half-Brother To Rising Turf Star Mean Mary, Bye Bye Melvin Keeps To Grass In Saturdayā€™s Kent Stakes

Otter Bend's Gufo tops the $125,000 Grade III Kent Stakes at Delaware Park this Saturday. The mile-and-an-eighth grass affair has attracted a field of eight 3-year-olds. The Kent has been carded as the ninth race with an approximate post time of 5:15 p.m.

Gufo will try to extend his current winning streak to four. The Kentucky-bred trained by Christophe Clement, started his career with a third in an Aqueduct turf maiden on November 17. The son of Declaration of War followed with three successive turf victories all at Gulfstream Park. On December 29, he broke his maiden by a nose going a mile and a sixteenth. He followed with a half-length triumph in a mile and an eighth allowance on March 27. In his most recent, he won the mile and a sixteenth $75,000 English Channel Stakes on May 2. He has career earnings of $102,510.

Trainer H. Graham Motion has entered Alex Campbell Jr.'s Bye Bye Melvin who has a career record of two wins and a third from six starts with earnings of $32,840. In his most recent, the son of Uncle Mo was unplaced in the mile and a sixteenth $400,000 Grade II Tampa Bay Derby on March 7. His previous two efforts, on the grass at Tampa Bay Downs, tell the real story of the Kentucky-bred. On December 7, he broke his maiden going a mile and a sixteenth by 8 Ā¼-lengths and then he followed with a Ā¾-length score in a one mile allowance on January 8.

ā€œHe had two solid turf victories at Tampa over the winter,ā€ said trainer H. Graham Motion. ā€œBut, we thought he breezed really well on the dirt, so we decided to run him in the Tampa Bay Derby. After the Tampa Bay Derby, we are excited to get him back on the grass. He is a half-brother to Mean Mary, so we think he has a bright future on the grass.ā€

Mean Mary has a career turf record of five wins and a second including victories this year in the Grade III La Prevoyante and Grade III Orchid at Gulfstream Park and Grade II New York at Belmont Park.

$125,000 Grade III Kent Stakes

For 3-year-olds

at a mile-and-an-eighth (turf)

# HORSE OWNER TRAINER JOCKEY Wg OD
1 Talking Augustin Stable Jonathan Thomas Daniel Centeno 118 12-1
2 On Base Robert LaPenta, Bridlewoo Jonathan Thomas TBD 118 15-1
3 Pixelate Godolphin Michael Stidham Angel Suarez 118 3-1
4 Bye Bye Melvin Alex Campbell Jr. H. Graham Motion Feargal Lynch 118 6-1
5 Me and Mr. C Stonehedge Edward Allard Carol Cedeno 118 8-1
6 Gufo Otter Bend Stables Christophe Clement Trevor McCarthy 118 5/2
7 Sunsation Newtown Anner Stud Kelsey Danner Joe Bravo 118 6-1
8 Vanzzy Daniel Ryan Michael Pino Mychel Sanchez 118 4-1

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