Trainer Motion puts his horse to test in Turf Cup

Seven of the eight horses scheduled to run in the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup today at Hollywood Park have competed in at least one graded stakes race.

Chief Running Bear, a lightly raced son of 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus, is the exception.

Owned by Earle Mack and trained by Graham Motion, the 4-year-old gelding will step from allowance company into the Turf Cup, a Grade I at 1 1/2 miles.

Motion, whose stable has earned about $6.4 million in 2007 to rank in the top 15 in the country, thinks Chief Running Bear deserves a shot against a field that includes, among others, Champs Elysees, Sunriver and Spring House, after consecutive victories in New York and Kentucky.

“This is to learn where we stand with him,” said the English-born Motion, who earned the biggest win of his career with 27-1 shot Better Talk Now in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf. “It’s not easy to find races at this distance except at Saratoga and Keeneland. The timing of the race is good, and I was impressed with the way he won last time,” Oct. 26 at Keeneland at the Turf Cup distance. “He won despite not having the best of trips.

“I realize this is a big step up, but it will be a good gauge to see where we can go with him.”

Trained by Aidan O’Brien for his first two starts -- a second and a win -- in Ireland, Chief Running Bear was purchased privately by Mack. Gelded by Motion, Chief Running Bear, who was purchased as a yearling for $800,000, finished eighth in his U.S. debut July 28 at Saratoga before his consecutive victories.

“He was quite difficult when we first got him,” Motion said. “He was always pretty highly thought of, and that is what swayed Mr. Mack to buy him. He was a handful as a lot of the horses by Fusaichi Pegasus are, but he has settled down a lot since we gelded him.”

Given the recent rain, the grass at Hollywood Park today should be less than firm, a condition that will not be a problem for Chief Running Bear, who will be ridden by Corey Nakatani.

His victory at Keeneland, under the now retired Mark Guidry, came on a course labeled yielding.

“It would help our chances,” said Motion, who has eight horses stabled locally and plans on keeping a string in California when Santa Anita begins its winter-spring meet Dec. 26. “Some others might not care for it as much as he does.”

The two horses who figure to draw most of the attention at the windows are Champs Elysees, a 4-year-old Danehill colt who will be making his first start in the U.S. for trainer Bobby Frankel, and Sunriver, who has won twice in five starts on turf for trainer Todd Pletcher.

The Hollywood Park card also includes the $100,000 Native Diver Handicap, a Grade III at 1 1/8 miles.

The 120-pound highweight is Buzzards Bay, who won the Californian by a nose the last time he raced in Inglewood, and the lone 3-year-old in the field is Ravel.

Trained by Pletcher for owners Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, Ravel, a son of Fusaichi Pegasus, will be looking for his fourth win in five starts. He defeated maidens by 3 1/2 lengths for the first victory of his career here Dec. 3, 2006.

Forced to miss the Triple Crown because of injury, Ravel, who won the Sham on Feb. 3 at Santa Anita in his only previous graded stakes appearance, was successful by five lengths in his comeback effort Oct. 12 at Keeneland.

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