Saratoga Win Comes 'Full Circle' for Motion

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Any trainer would be undoubtedly excited looking to the future after Untamed Domain (Animal Kingdom)'s 'TDN Rising Star' performance on the opening weekend of the prestigious Saratoga meeting (video).

But when the conditioner in question is Graham Motion, who also saddled the juvenile colt's freshman sire to memorable wins in the 2011 GI Kentucky Derby and 2013 G1 Dubai World Cup, you know this one had to feel a little extra special.

“I tell 'ya, it really was,” Motion said. “I didn't anticipate it being… it was almost somewhat emotional. It was just very cool to have it sort of come around full circle. To head up to Saratoga with one of his first 2-year-olds was pretty special, and to have him run like that, it meant a lot to me.”

A rallying fourth with his share of trouble first time out sprinting on the Laurel turf July 2 (video), the West Point Thoroughbreds colorbearer was favored at 6-5 to get off the mark while stretching to two turns in a grassy maiden special weight at the Spa Saturday.

Content to trail the field of seven while saving ground through easy fractions of :24.75 and :50.40, Untamed Domain was traveling nicely and beginning to make headway until jockey Jose Ortiz was forced to tap on the brakes in traffic entering the far turn. Seemingly unfazed, Untamed Domain impressively began to dial it back up, was swung widest of all into the stretch and rocketed home to register a 1 1/2-length decision. The $90,000 KEESEP yearling purchase covered his final quarter in :22.86, according to Trakus data. The next fastest clocking was :23.26.

“I really don't think he could've been any more impressive,” Motion said. “I knew that stretching him out was going to be the key, but we thought he may have enough zip first time sprinting.

He really didn't have a very good trip that time either, so he's kind of had two troubled trips now. He certainly ran well enough to overcome it the other day and I thought he won very comfortably.”

Races like the GIII With Anticipation S. at the Spa Aug. 30 with a future eye on the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf this fall at Del Mar are all in the conversation now for Untamed Domain. Bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farms, he is out of the stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Ciao (Lear Fan) and his third dam is French Group 1 winner Smuggly (Caro {Ire}).

“I think it definitely makes sense to run back in the With Anticipation,” Motion said. “The timing is very good and that would be a good stepping stone. I certainly feel very good about the direction that he's going.”

Motion continued, “One of the coolest things about him is that he's kind of got Animal Kingdom's disposition. He takes things very well and very much in his stride. He doesn't get too wound up about anything, which I think is going to be very important for him down the road. Obviously it's early days, but he certainly showed that tremendous turn of foot that Animal Kingdom would show, too.”

Motion said that he trains “a couple of more” offspring by Animal Kingdom, and may have another promising runner by the young sire on his hands with the filly Cyrielle, who is set to debut in the fifth race at Saratoga Thursday, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight on grass. The $300,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, owned by Team Valor International and Gary Barber, is out of the Forestry mare Somethinaboutbetty, a four-time stakes winner and runner-up in Saratoga's 2006 GIII Lake George S. Her worktab includes three bullet breezes at Motion's Fair Hill base in Maryland.

“Look, it's a Saratoga maiden so you never know what you're getting into, but she certainly had shown enough here [at Fair Hill],” Motion said. “Again, with this filly, I thought she showed a little more zip in the morning that perhaps we could run her short one time. Certainly, she's ready to run.”

Untamed Domain became the second American winner for Animal Kingdom, who is also represented by the two-for-two Debutante S. heroine Sunny Skies. The son of Leroidesanimaux (Brz) also has six Australian winners, including 'TDN Rising Star' Earth Angel (Aus).

Animal Kingdom stood the 2017 season for $30,000 at Darley's Jonabell Farm in Kentucky. A $550,000 colt purchased by Solis/Litt at OBS March out of Miss Lomardi (Unbridled Jet) was his most expensive of 19 2-year-olds sold in 2017. From his 50 first-crop yearlings that switched hands in 2016–good for an average of $99,388–a $400,000 filly out of Eltimaas (Ghostzapper) acquired by Juddmonte at KEESEP led the way.

“My personal observations are that the colts tend to be sort of a little more robust and more like him,” Motion concluded. “Whereas the fillies are a little more refined, and a little more, I would say, 'flashy' and more 'sales types' than the colts. Look, he didn't break his maiden until the fall of his 2-year-old year, so he wasn't really an early 2-year-old type himself and I think a lot of the colts are built that way, too.”