Isabelle de Tomaso's 'TDN Rising Star' Irish War Cry (Curlin) returned to his Fair Hill base late Saturday night and appeared to be in fine condition following his win in Saturday's GII Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct, trainer Graham Motion confirmed Sunday morning.
“He seems good this morning,” Motion observed. “He's obviously a little tired. It was a long day, shipping back last night and everything. He didn't eat up everything last night, but otherwise he seems absolutely fine. He's perky and looks nice.”
Irish War Cry posted his fourth victory from five starts and rebounded from a head-scratching seventh-place effort in Gulfstream's GII Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth S. Mar. 4. Motion said he was pleased with how the chestnut settled Saturday–a marked improvement from his overly eager effort in South Florida and a necessity if he was to go on to the GI Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs May 6.
“Things pretty much went as we hoped they would go,” Motion continued. “He settled just off the pace, and I guess I was a bit concerned on the backside because he kind of moved up quite early to the leader and, from what Rajiv told me, he felt like he had so much horse underneath him. My big question for him was how he thought about how he won, and he said he felt like he did it pretty comfortably, really.”
Motion added that he plans to keep Irish War Cry at Fair Hill to continue his training before traveling to Louisville for the Derby.
“I don't see a necessity to get him to Churchill in a hurry–it's very busy over there,” he said. “One of the reasons I wanted to get him home from Palm Meadows was to get him in a quieter environment at Fair Hill where he's used to being, and I think it's shown in his behavior this last week.”
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