Motion Eyeing FOY With Irish War Cry

With 'TDN Rising Star' Irish War Cry (Curlin) having come out of his win in the GII Lambholm South Holy Bull S. in good order, trainer Graham Motion said he is leaning toward running the New Jersey-bred next in the GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Mar. 4. Following the Holy Bull, Motion had said he was considering skipping the Fountain of Youth and going right to the GI Xpressbet.com Florida Derby Apr. 1

“Most likely we'll go to the Fountain of Youth and if I don't go there, it would be to wait an extra week and go to the [GII Lambholm South] Tampa Bay Derby [Mar. 11],” Motion said. “I'd really rather run back at Gulfstream rather than try him on a different surface, so I'm inclined to run him back in the Fountain of Youth.”

If Motion goes in that direction, it could mean a rematch with Eclipse Award winner Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile), who was third in the Holy Bull, but came out of the race with a foot problem.

Motion said there is a possibility Irish War Cry will also run in the GI Florida Derby, but he wants to consider his options before settling on a firm schedule.

“If we run in the Fountain of Youth, there's some question about whether or not he'd come back and run in the Florida Derby,” the trainer said. “It's possible we could do something like the [GII] Blue Grass [S. at Keeneland Apr. 8]. At some point, there's the opportunity to give him an extra week and the question is whether we do that sooner or wait to the lead up to the [GI] Kentucky Derby and give him the five weeks [after the Florida Derby.] But, yes, we are looking at three preps leading up to the Derby.”

Though Irish War Cry was unbeaten in two starts coming into the Holy Bull, his win was somewhat of a surprise, as he had been facing lesser company at Laurel. Motion said one of the keys to his performance in the Holy Bull was that jockey Joel Rosario was able to get the colt to relax early.

“I couldn't have predicted him beating the 2-year-old champion the way he did, but I certainly had confidence in him,” Motion said. “He was working well coming into the race. What you saw in the Holy Bull was pretty straightforward. My only instruction to Joel was to make sure he was settled because he was pretty sharp in his previous race and I blame that on myself. He had quite a lot of time between his first and second race and he was pretty sharp that day. My only concern was that he settled and he did that nicely and he won pretty comfortably.”