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Trainer H. Graham Motion Hits 1000 Wins

Trainer H. Graham Motion and his wife Anita

H. Graham Motion best known as the trainer of Better Talk Now and Film Maker, reached a career milestone on November 16th when his trainee Lucky Bachelor won the eighth race at Laurel Park, giving the native of Cambridge, England his 1000th victory. He said after the win, "It was nice to have it happen here. It is pretty nostalgic because this is where I started. I was actually driving around the backside earlier on and went by my old barn. It was nice to do it here with Adrian (Rolls, assistant) who has been with me since the start. It is not something you aim for but it is neat to do it. I have had backing of some tremendous owners throughout the years and the owners that got me started were right here in Maryland.” At the beginning of the day he needed two wins to reach the milestone, and got win number 999 in the sixth race with Everyman.

Motion in the winner's circle with Better Talk Now at Woodbine after the Sky Classic Stakes

Born on May 22, 1964, he grew up in a racing family, his father being a representative for Tattersalls sales agency and his mother an amateur jockey and an assistant trainer. He worked briefly with Jonathan Pease in France, and then with Jonathan Sheppard and Bernie Bond in America, taking over Bond's stable upon his retirement. He said of his mentors, "With Bernie, I took over his horses. Without him I wouldn't have anything. With Jonathan (Sheppard), I worked for him during the formative years." He met his wife Anita in France while working for Pease and she was working for Alain de Royer-Dupre.

Breaking out on his own to open a public stable, he got his start in Maryland, and quickly made a name for himself, finishing in the top ten in the state’s standings for seven consecutive years, from 1995 to 2001. His first winner was Bounding Daisy at Laurel in 1993, and later that same year he saddled his first graded stakes winner with Gala Spinaway. His public stable is based in Fair Hill, Maryland, where he has 70 horses under his care which he races primarily in the mid-Atlantic, New York, and Kentucky. Other stakes winners he trained include Funfair, Broken Vow, Humaita, Confessional, Chillito, Power Play, Two Smart, Bursting Forth, Equality and Trajectory.

He had to wait ten years to finally capture a Grade 1, when Film Maker won the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in 2003. The following year, Better Talk Now upset the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Lone Star Park, giving him his first and only win in the World Championships. Those two stable stars continued to shine in 2006. In the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs, Film Maker finished second to favorite Ouija Board in the Filly and Mare Turf and then Better Talk Now was second to Red Rocks in the Turf.

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