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 Laurel's Selima S., the chestnut filly is out of Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect), who herself is a winner on Breeders' Cup day when taking the 2010 renewal of the GI Filly & Mare Turf at Churchill Downs.
Explaining the decision to head overseas for the sophomore's next start, Motion explained, “Part of it was because the filly has a great disposition, she takes thing very well. She has the quality and from a mental point of view, I thought she could handle it.”
He added, “The race at Churchill really came out of nowhere. We didn't know that race was going to be there, but it fell right into the wheelhouse of the week that we had hoped to run her in order to get her to Ascot. I don't think we were still planning on coming to Ascot before running her [at Churchill] because we didn't even know if it was practical and we didn't know how she was going to run, even though I felt very good about running her. Once she ran and ran well, it got the thought process going again and [Gainesway's] Antony [Beck] was very much onboard in running. That's how we got to where we are.”
No stranger to Royal Ascot, Motion, who ran Animal Kingdom at the Royal meeting in 2013, was most recently represented at the Royal meeting by Miss Temple City (Temple City), who recorded her best finish when fourth in the 2015 Coronation.
“For me, who grew up in Newmarket, my parents lived in England most of their lives, to come back to Royal Ascot with a legitimate chance, you can't top that,” said Motion. “It's a bucket-list item for me. Of course, that's not why we're doing it, but it's something that's been on my radar and I thought this was a filly we could do it with.”
Sharing is expected to breeze at Motion's Fair Hill base June 13 before vanning to Lexington, Kentucky, Sunday evening. After serving a few hours in quarantine at Keeneland, she is expected to fly out of Indianapolis before arriving in Newmarket the evening of June 16.
“We are going to come in very late before this race and I want her to have her last workout in America before she left, I thought that was very important,” Motion said. “I won't be able to travel, so I wanted to be able to see the filly as much as I could before she left. I like to think we learned from our past experiences..I like that this race is for straight 3-year-old fillies and that it's not a straight mile because it's a harder race for [U.S.-based horses] to adjust to. We are taking a different angle than we have in the past.”
Also previously acquainted with the Royal meeting, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Judy In Disguise, graded placed in the U.S., finished 10th in the 2012 renewal of the G3 Albany S.
“Everyone's feeling the pain of the pandemic and numerous cultural and social issues that are going on in the world and this is sort of a gesture of unity, of sportsmanship and trying to bring the world closer together,” said Wellman, outlining the thought process behind the trip to England. “Owners and partners of ours are becoming more sophisticated. They have an appetite for a more global flavour, so to speak, and as the industry on a global scale is somewhat contracting, the big events, the big days, the big races, that's really where people want to be and to be able to do that on an international scale would be something that Eclipse is very intent on proving.”
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