There is a rare peace to a racehorse loose in a paddock. He’s relaxed, and can choose to do what he wants. He can eat grass, scuff at dirt, watch, take note. He’s fenced, in but free.
Late Tuesday morning, Main Sequence – a player in next weekend’s Breeders’ Cup Turf, a favorite to win the Eclipse Award as champion turf male and if you draw the model out far enough even a contender for Horse of the Year honors – was that horse. The winner of three Grade 1 stakes this year had trained, been bathed, rolled in the dirt and was now simply wandering about in the October sun. In a few days, he’ll have his final fast workout. Then he’ll board a van for the airport, get on a plane and fly across the country to Santa Anita to compete in one of the world’s great races.
Tuesday he was just a horse in a field at Fair Hill Training Center.
He ate grass, swished his tail at flies, watched a guy mess with a chain harrow, ignored his neighbor Auld Alliance, scratched an itch, paid little attention to a visitor. He wore four blue polo bandages to protect his legs and two white bell boots to protect his front hooves.
It was 62 degrees. Stray leaves fell from a tree in the corner of the paddock. A faint smell of smoke hung in the air, a remnant of the weekend hay fire down in the valley. They say it could last a week.
It’s been some year for Main Sequence, a 5-year-old gelding whose English career ended Oct. 19, 2013. On the advice of trainer David Lanigan, owner/breeder Flaxman Holdings sent the son of Aldebaran to the United States and trainer Graham Motion. Main Sequence, loser of 10 consecutive races (though many in top company) needed a change.
“David’s whole idea was a change of scenery might sweeten him up,” said Motion, who became Main Sequence’s trainer late last year. “Fair play to David, because it’s not an easy thing to do with a horse of that caliber.”
The Kentucky-bred won his first four starts, then finished second in the English Derby (the first of his 10 losses) and gradually lost his way. Last October, he finished eighth at Ascot and that was that. America would be his new home. Main Sequence traveled in December, but got sick in quarantine and spent a month at a veterinary clinic in Newburgh, N.Y. The illness derailed any real plans of running during the first half of 2014. Motion started over, and unveiled the newcomer in the United Nations at Monmouth Park in July – the first of three consecutive Grade 1 wins for the chestnut.
American racing seems to suit the horse, whose career includes seven wins (his first four starts and his last three). Change is, obviously, a good thing.
“He’s adjusted to being here very well,” said Motion. “He gets turned out before and after he trains. It’s a great time of year for that. The weather’s been good, the grass is good. He likes it.”
Main Sequence typically breaks slowly, works his way into contention and then pounces in the stretch. The rallies can be unnerving to watch, and he never wins by much, but there’s no doubting the late-race speed. Motion thinks the faster early paces in U.S. racing have helped Main Sequence get a better set-up to use that kick.
“I think it helps,” he said. “He’s not a grinder, he’s got a huge turn of foot. He kind of does what he has to do in the morning, that’s very much him. Although I will say, when we’ve worked him after each race I’ve noticed him being a little more forward.”
With regular jockey Rajiv Maragh sidelined by a broken arm suffered one race after Main Sequence’s win in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park Sept. 27, Motion lined up Hall of Famer John Velazquez for the ride. For Maragh, Main Sequence won all three starts – each one off an awkward beginning where the horse spotted his rivals lengths at the break and finished full of run. Motion waited until pre-entry time to make a decision, giving Maragh time to discuss his options with doctors.
“In an ideal world I hate Rajiv not being able to ride him,” said Motion. “He has a rapport with the horse. He’s not a straightforward horse. But at the same time, how can you complain about having Johnny? I called him right after Rajiv got hurt and asked if he would wait. I spoke to him a couple of times about it, but the plan was always to talk to Rajiv before we pre-entered to see where he thought he was. He said he wasn’t going to be ready. It always seemed ambitious to think about, but he’d ridden the horse and we decided to wait.”
FAIR HILL NOTES: Motion also pre-entered Rainha Da Bateria in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Rusty Slipper in the Filly and Mare Turf . . . The trainer will be busy on Breeders’ Cup Weekend at Santa Anita, with Ring Weekend, Stars Above Me, Strathnaver and Kitten’s Point all pointing to undercard stakes . . . Fair Hill will also be represented by Ageless in the Turf Sprint. Trained by Arnaud Delacour for Lael Stable, the 5-year-old mare has won three of six starts this year including the Grade 3 Royal North Stakes at Woodbine. Delacour was mulling the Turf Sprint vs. males or the Ken Maddy for distaffers . . . With four days to go, Motion is tied atop the Keeneland trainers’ standings at six wins with Todd Pletcher. Motion, who has never won an individual meet championship, has 10 entered over the final four days . . . Motion said graded winner Inimitable Romanee will be retired to the broodmare band at Gallagher’s Stud in New York . . . Top Billing, once discussed as a 2014 Kentucky Derby contender before being sidelined with an injury, is training for a return to the races with trainer Shug McGaughey at Fair Hill . . . The large hay fire, still under investigation, occurred about a mile from the training center property in a storage area for large bales produced on the state property. No horses, people or buildings other than the sheds covering the hay were damaged.
Video: Main Sequence in the paddock.
