Graham Motion's Other Horse

Remember Fair Hill, the equine training center that Michael Matz calls home when he is not in Florida? Where Barbaro was turned out after his victory in the Derby, a feat that still astonishes many trainers who prefer to have their expensive charges hand walked and grazed at all times? Well, the bucolic Maryland training center is also home base to another trainer who has a horse in this year's Kentucky Derby, Graham Motion.

He actually had two until Tuesday. The headliner was Toby's Corner, at least until he came up lame on Monday. The other is Animal Kingdom, who is currently stabled at Keeneland, and is a longshot worth considering.

Graham Motion is British and trains horses the European way, which is why Fair Hill suits him. He believes that every horse deserves the opportunity to be a horse; he routinely turns them out and lets them go for hacks in the woods and along the rolling hills and he never races a horse under medication. Never. "If they came out tomorrow and said there can be no medications at all, it wouldn't affect us in the slightest. I think too many people use it as a crutch," he told the New York Times.

The two horses that made him the well respected trainer that he is, Gala Spinaway, his first stakes winner and Better Talk Now, his first Breeder's Cup winner, are both retired and pensioned at his Fair Hill operation. "They are lovely animals and will always have a home with us," he said.

There are so many variables in the Kentucky Derby not the least of which are the enormous field, the raucous crowd and the circus that is light years away from Fair Hill. But if there was ever a time that horse racing needed an ambassador it is now and I can't think of a better one than Graham Motion.

I'm hoping that Animal Kingdom gets a safe trip and stalks the prey right to the winner's circle!