Time and Motion turns tables on Catch a Glimpse in G2 Lake Placid

by Jenny Kellner

Time and Motion took advantage of a perfect trip under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez to take Sunday's Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid at Saratoga Race Course and snap 3-5 favorite Catch a Glimpse's eight-race winning streak in the process.

Time and Motion, whose customary late rally fell a half-length short of Catch a Glimpse in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 9, stayed along the rail within striking range of the favorite as she led the field of six 3-year-old fillies through ordinary opening fractions of 23.44 and 48.58 seconds. Given her cue on the turn, Time and Motion steadily cut into Catch a Glimpse's open-length lead in the stretch and powered ahead in the final yards to win by a neck.

"Today, I kept her on [Catch a Glimpse's] tail," said Velazquez. "Wherever she went, I was going to keep her right on her tail. It was different story than last time when she was able to get away, but there was no rabbit in this race."

Time and Motion's winning time for 1 1/8 miles over the firm inner turf course was 1:48.39.

"At the sixteenth pole, I didn't think we were getting by Catch a Glimpse, but she doesn't quit," said winning trainer Jimmy Toner. "We had to be close, Johnny rode a perfect race and did everything right. We had to keep her in contention. There's no way you're going to make up five or six lengths on a filly like Catch a Glimpse. She hits that turn and she takes off. We knew it and Johnny knew it. You have to be able to execute it and she was able to do it."

The victory was the first in a graded stakes for the Phillips Racing Partnership homebred daughter of Tapit, who had won three straight prior to the Belmont Oaks this year, including the Memories of Silver and Wonder Again, stakes named after horses coincidentally conditioned by Toner. Although winless at age 2, Time and Motion finished third in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo at Belmont Park and was fifth, beaten less than two lengths, in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

The 8-5 second choice, Time and Motion returned $5.50 for a $2 win bet and earned $180,000 to boost her bankroll to $623,150.

It was the first loss for Catch a Glimpse since she finished fifth in her debut last July in her only other appearance at the Spa. Along with the Belmont Oaks, her streak included victories in the Grade 2 Natalma, the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies Turf, and four Grade 3's: the Herecomesthebride, the Appalachian, the Edgewood and the Penn Mile, the latter against males.

"How can you be disappointed?" asked her trainer, Mark Casse. "She tries so hard and she runs so hard. Even Secretariat got beat here. It happens. A better filly beat her today."

Following Catch a Glimpse under the wire were Diamond Fields, Elysea's World, Outsider Art and My Impression. Pricedtoperfection was scratched.