Selima win could have Sharing bound for Breeders’ Cup

Sharing. Photo by Maryland Jockey Club.

A pair of stakes races on the turf for two-year-olds kicked off Laurel Park’s “September to Remember” and gave their connections perhaps just a touch of Breeders’ Cup fever.

Heading into the $200,000 Selima Stakes for two-year-old fillies on the grass, Sharing (Manny Franco) was made the prohibitive favorite for trainer Graham Motion based on her emphatic maiden special weight score at Saratoga and her superb breeding.

A daughter of Speightstown out of Shared Account, a Motion trainee who prevailed in the Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf, Sharing was purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners for $350,000 as a yearling and put a dent in her purchase price on Saturday.

Reserved just off the early tempo by Franco while Sunset Promise and Midship Lady dueled for command through the first three calls, Sharing loomed a menacing presence while three-wide entering the far turn and surged to command at the head of the lane. Initially unwilling to draw off on her own, Sharing received several cracks of the whip from Franco before drawing clear to a three-length score while getting the one-mile and one-sixteenth distance in 1:42.61 over the firm turf course.

“She was really just doing it on her own early,” Franco said. “She put me in the race and was going easily. When she made the front turning for home she started looking around a little bit, so I hit her a few times just to keep her focused. But I really had a lot of horse underneath me. She was going easily until the top of the stretch, but when she made the lead, she started looking around.”

Sharing, who sports two wins from three starts with earnings of $180,000 – just over one-half her purchase price – impressed Motion to the extent that the Fair Hill-based conditioner noted her next start would likely be the Breeders Cup Juvenile Filly Turf at Del Mar. Sharing had been third on the turf in her career debut and then won easily at Saratoga in her next outing on a race belatedly switched from the turf to the main track.

“At this time of year, I think everyone is thinking about the Breeders’ Cup,” Motion said. “She had trained well on the dirt and on the turf, but with her breeding I was thinking turf with her all along. She’s a lot like her mother. Shared Account was a kind filly, and she won a Breeders’ Cup for me and it’s great to have one out of her that could be headed to the Breeders’ Cup next. She’s also a very kind filly and she’s got a lot of ability.”

Just over an hour later when Laurel Park hosted the latest edition of the $200,000 Laurel Futurity for two-year-old colts on the turf, Motion celebrated again in the winners’ circle after Irish Mias (Franco) rallied along the rail through the lane to edge stablemate Torres Del Paine (Weston Hamilton) for a neck victory in 1:44.03 for the one-mile and one-sixteenth. Both Motion trainees also had to survive multiple objections and a brief inquiry to be recognized as the official top two finishers in the Futurity.

“They say you don’t go to Saratoga unless you have a decent horse, and I thought both these horses were okay,” Motion said of Irish Mias, owned and bred by Isabelle de Tomaso. “I thought Irish Mias ran a really good race. They weren’t going much up front early, but he finished really well. Once he got through I thought he had a big chance to win. I’ll have to see how he comes out of it and then look for something. But I thought both of them ran well.”

Irish Mias headed into the Futurity off a pair of second-place finishes at Saratoga and picked the ideal time to garner his diploma while capturing the lucrative stakes. While Sharing covered the distance in 1:42.61 for her stakes tally, Irish Mias got the same distance in a modest 1:44.03 and won by just a head in a race in which the top five finishers all were within 1 1/2 lengths. Jockeys Feargal Lynch, aboard show horse Doc Boy, and Alex Cintron, who rode fourth-place Field Pass, lodged objections against the Motion trainees that were disallowed.

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