SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After capturing the Grade 1 Belmont Derby here last week with Test Score, what can trainer Graham Motion do for an encore?
Motion will try to kick off the official opening of the Saratoga meet on Thursday by winning the first, and arguably tougher, division of the $135,000 De La Rose with the Group 1-placed Heredia.
The split De La Rose, to be decided at one mile on turf by older fillies and mares who have not won a graded stakes in 2024-25, highlights a 10-race card on opening day of the Saratoga season, which runs for 40 days through Sept. 1. First post is at 1:10 p.m.
Heredia fits the conditions of the De La Rose perfectly as one of only two horses in either division with a graded stakes victory on their résumé. She won the Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown Park during the summer of 2023, then became Group 1-placed five weeks later when finishing third behind Inspiral in the Sun Chariot at Newmarket. That effort was flattered when Inspiral came back to register a popular victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.
Heredia joined Motion’s barn the following season but had her U.S. debut postponed for more than a year before finally returning to the races at Aqueduct in the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 4. Stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time, Heredia ran a strong third, beaten just a length by Dynamic Pricing, who came right back to upset the Grade 1 Just a Game here on Belmont Stakes weekend.
“She came to me last year and was working in Florida when she had a little setback and we had to give her some time off,” Motion said.
“That being considered, I thought she turned in a pretty darn good effort for as long as she’d been away in her first start.”
Motion entered Heredia in the Just a Game but opted to scratch the 6-year-old mare due to the yielding condition of the turf course that day.
“She had run so hard in her first start I really didn’t want to bring her back on such soft ground,” Motion explained. “So this is the race we circled after that, and she hasn’t missed a beat since. I actually think she’ll go further than a mile, although for now I kind of want to keep her doing what she’s been doing before.
“On form, she looks like the one to beat in here and I hope it turns out she is in that kind of spot.”
Edict is the only other member of the field with a graded stakes win to her credit, having defeated Group 1 opposition in her native Argentina in her 3-year-old finale before joining trainer Dave Donk’s barn last season. She too ran a big race in the Beaugay when second by a half-length. She took a short lead in early stretch and gamely fended off Dynamic Pricing before finally succumbing grudgingly in the final strides.
Edict did compete over the yielding course here on Belmont weekend, finishing a tiring sixth after setting the pace for the opening mile of the Grade 1 New York Stakes.
Les Reys comes into the race off an 8 1/2-month layoff but was a well-graded winner of the Winter Memories Stakes in her U.S. debut last fall at Aqueduct and has been training forwardly for her return the past several weeks over the Oklahoma turf course for trainer Miguel Clement.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will have key contenders in both divisions of the De La Rose, with In Our Time among the eight starters in the opening leg and Movin’ On Up set to face seven rivals in the second division, which will be decided as the eighth race.
In Our Time began the year with two big efforts at Gulfstream Park, finishing third in the Grade 2 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf and second in the Grade 3 Honey Fox after setting the pace in both races. She finished a disappointing sixth in the Sand Springs in her most recent try March 29.
“The last race was probably just a case of being one race too many this winter, so we freshened her up and she seems to have come back in good order,” Joseph said. “She dropped a little further back than usual last time. I’d like to see her be on the lead this time if she can.”
Movin’ On Up has held her form extremely well since launching her 2025 campaign with a convincing 2 3/4-length allowance win going a mile on March 15 at Gulfstream. She followed that effort with an easy victory in the Sand Springs and a pair of third-place finishes in graded stakes at Churchill Downs – a second in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile and a third in the Grade 3 Mint Julep.
“She had a couple of tough trips back-to-back at Churchill but continues to run well and this is a good spot for her coming out of graded stakes,” Joseph said.
Movin’ On Up figures among the betting choices in the second division of the De La Rose along with multiple stakes winner Ozara, who is coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Eatontown; last-out allowance winner Charlottesapproval; and Poca Mucha, who won last year’s renewal of this event by 14 1/4 lengths after the race was taken off the turf and decided over a sloppy main track.
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