Test Score, a 4-year-old colt by Lookin At Lucky owned by Californians John and Jerry Ammerman, fought the good fight in a field of 11 and came away a neck best under top rider Juan Hernandez, who was winning his eighth stakes of the session.
Test Score was the 15th stakes horse Motion has shipped west to Del Mar and come away a winner. He ran the 11 furlongs on turf in 2:14.76 and paid $7.20 to his pari-mutuel backers.
JUAN HERNANDEZ (Test Score, winner) – “This is a very professional horse. He knows how to run; he knows how to win. I’ve ridden him before and that helped. He just runs his race. He doesn’t pull; he just stays calm and goes about his business. He’s a pleasure.”
ALICE CLAPHAM asst. to Graham Motion (Test Score, winner) – “He’s a little horse that will not give up. He’ll fight. He’s a true racehorse. I was a little worried around the bend when he had a lot of horses around him because when he gets going you don’t want him to get stopped; but once he got clear and changed his lead he just kept going.”
Test Score will ship out of Del Mar Tuesday and head back to Motion’s home base at Fair Hill in Maryland. Motion says they’ll probably train up to the Breeders’ Cup.
“That wasn’t necessarily the reason why we brought him out there,” Motion explains. “Obviously the “Win and You’re In” is a good incentive and I think we will definitely consider it. The biggest thing for me was to answer the question of whether or not he could handle the distance, which he had never done before. So, no I wouldn’t run him again and I expect we will run (in the Breeders’ Cup) if he’s doing well.”
Motion has won all three of the races he’s entered at Del Mar this summer. He won the G2 Yellow Ribbon with Warming, the CTT & TOC with Vronti and now the Del Mar Handicap with Test Score. Over the years, he has shipped in 15 horses to win different stakes at Del Mar.
“I think we sent out some nice horses who were well suited for the spots,” Motion explains. “I’m so lucky to have Alice who can travel with them and honestly the Brookledge team do a great job getting them there. We had a layover in Memphis on these last two trips, so it’s getting comfortable with the system and having the confidence in the people that are doing it.”
Edited Press Release DEL MAR
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