Graham Motion

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})...

Forget Junes in years past. Forget the top hat and tailcoat. Forget the long airline flight to London. Forget the face mask and gloves. It's a new world in 2020 for those who love top-quality horse racing and believe that "mass follows class" on both sides of the Atlantic. Now in the light of COVID-19, the unique Royal Ascot meet will take place on the same heath behind closed doors for the first time since 1711, when Queen Anne decreed that the beautiful flatland just a mile or so from...

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable's Sharing (Speightstown), winner of last fall's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, remains on course for Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation S. June 21. Sharing, winner of the May 23 Tepin S. at Churchill Downs, is trained by Maryland-based Graham Motion. "She is doing really well since she last ran," said Motion. "The weather here has been beautiful and I think that has really helped. Everything has been going pretty smoothly so far." Victorious in three of four starts last season, including...

Sharing picked up her sophomore season where she left off last term with a victory in the Tepin S. at Churchill Downs. Tracking from fourth through a :24.16 opening quarter and a :48.39 half, Maryland bred swept up two wide on the backstretch, took control in early stretch and held off a late bid from Abscond to win by 3/4 of a length. Pass the Plate rounded out the trifecta. A close-up third in her career bow at Saratoga last July, the chestnut earned TDN Rising Star honors with an...

Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) isn't the only comebacking Breeders' Cup winner set to return at the highly anticipated upcoming Churchill Downs spring meet. 'TDN Rising Star' Sharing (Speightstown), a last out 13-1 upset victress of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita Nov. 1, is being aimed at the $100,000 Tepin S. going a mile on the lawn beneath the Twin Spires May 23. The Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable colorbearer, a $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling graduate, has been gearing up at trainer Graham Motion's Fair Hill...

Seven trainers, including two of the biggest names in the sport in Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, are among 27 individuals indicted for doping horses. The scheme involves Eclipse Award winner Maximum Security (New Year's Day), G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner X Y Jet (Kantharos), exotic drugs you've never heard of and the killing of horses to hide the evidence. It does not get any uglier. With this, coming on top of the breakdowns and fatalities at Santa Anita, many were left to wonder if the sport can survive another...

The third annual Renaissance Awards, a collaborative effort between the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and Maryland Jockey Club, which recognizes excellence in Thoroughbred racing and breeding in Maryland in the past year, was held Tuesday evening, Feb. 11, at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery. 'TDN Rising Star' Sharing (Speightstown), heroine of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, took home top honors as Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, champion 2-year-old filly and champion turf runner. Other winners included: champion 2-year-old male: Laddie Liam (Golden Lad); champion...

Old Chapel Farm has built a reputation over the last few years as a boutique weanling-to-yearling pinhooking operation, but owner Andrew Motion decided to look for a more diversified investment and took advantage of the opportunity of his daughter Mary's trip to last month's Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. "My dad has been pinhooking, but now it's just crazy money,"  Mary Motion explained. "He has a broodmare background, so we thought we would get more of a long-term investment out of the mares. I originally went down to...

Every trainer deals with difficult horses, and sometimes they work out and sometimes they don't. There was a time when Graham Motion didn't know whether Mean Mary (Scat Daddy) would fulfill her potential. Owned and bred by Alex Campbell Jr., she was that tough. "You had to have your best rider on her," Motion said.  "You had to have her on the pony or she'd pull some antics going to the track. Nothing that was unmanageable, but something you always had to be ready for. She was just very tough."...

It's no secret that racing had a tough year in 2019. We asked a cross-section of participants what their number one goal is to make racing better in 2020. (Want to participate? Email [email protected]) In my opinion, the number one priority for racing to achieve in 2020 is to come up with some form of stronger leadership from within the sport. Clearly the idea of a commissioner is a pipe dream; to me the next best thing would be an advisory committee which would have the role of counsel for...

Sixteen prominent Thoroughbred trainers have expressed their support for the Horseracing Integrity Act via an open letter "to the Thoroughbred Community" sent out Friday. The trainers who signed on are: Tom Albertrani, Christophe Clement, Ben Colebrook, Gary Contessa, Arnaud Delacour, Janet Elliott, Mark Hennig, Kiaran McLaughlin, Shug McGaughey, Ken McPeek, Tom Morley, Graham Motion, Todd Pletcher, John Sadler, George Weaver and Nick Zito. The letter reads: "Horse racing is at a pivotal moment in its long history in the United States. The past six months presented a string of events...

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend--each making their racetrack debuts--running at Kokura and Niigata Racecourses: Saturday, August 10, 2019 5th-KOK, ¥13,400,000 ($126k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1700m NOCTURNE NOTES (JPN) (f, 2, Medaglia d'Oro--Summer Soiree, by War Front) is the first Japanese-bred produce for her dam, who posted her...