Mac Diarmida Marks Return of Champion Main Sequence
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Main Sequence (outside) topped off a perfect season with a win in the Breeders' Cup Turf. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Main Sequence, the winner of two Eclipse Awards in 2014, looks to start off his 2015 season with a bang on Saturday in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
The 6-year-old gelding had an eventful 2014, even before he ran his first race in the United States. He was transferred to trainer Graham Motion early in the year and made the trip from Europe to United States but had to spend more than a month in a veterinary clinic after becoming sick.
Main Sequence won his first start on American soil in the United Nations Stakes on July 6 and proved he was well worth the wait as he swept four Grade 1 events, including the Breeders’ Cup Turf against a field of international competitors.
This year, Main Sequence will again be focusing on taking international competition, this time outside of the U.S., when he travels to Dubai for a planned start in the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 28. But before he ships to the desert, Motion will get a prep race under the champion’s belt as he hasn’t raced since the Breeders’ Cup.
Motion had the option of running Main Sequence in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on Feb. 7, the same prep race he used to get Animal Kingdom ready for a winning Dubai World Cup raid in 2013, but decided on the Mac Diarmida due to its distance.
“The Mac Diarmida is kind of a no-brainer, being a mile and three-eighths. I’ve never run him shorter than a mile and three-eighths,” Motion said. “Perhaps, I could have run him in the Gulfstream Park Handicap; it would have given him a couple extra weeks before Dubai, but I think the mile and three-eighths was very appealing to me and it enabled me to give him a little more time off.”
The Mac Diarmida will pit Main Sequence against seven rivals, with Twilight Eclipse being the only foe he has faced before.
Twilight Eclipse faced Main Sequence in all four of Main Sequence’s races last year, running within a neck of him while second in two of those meetings. In the two other starts, Twilight Eclipse finished third, including in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
If Twilight Eclipse manages to turn the tables on Main Sequence in this meeting, he will be only the second horse to win two editions of the Mac Diarmida as he won the race last year by a length. Presious Passion, who nearly pulled an upset in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Turf before he was caught at the finish line in that race, won the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Mac Diarmida.
TWILIGHT ECLIPSE IS LOOKING TO WIN A SECOND STRAIGHT MAC DIAMIDA
Photo by Coglinese Photos
Main Sequence will not face Twilight Eclipse in Dubai but will potentially meet up with Breeders’ Cup Turf runner-up Flintshire, who is coming off of a win in the Hong Kong Vase in December. The top two Breeders’ Cup Turf finishers are the only horses from that race who have been nominated for the Sheema Classic.
There are nine U.S.-based horses nominated for the Sheema Classic, including fellow Mac Diarmida entrant Divine Oath. The 4-year-old Todd Pletcher-trained colt is coming into the Mac Diarmida off a win in the 1 ½-mile W. L. McKnight Handicap on the Gulfstream turf in late December.
John Velazquez, who won the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Main Sequence while Main Sequence’s regular rider Rajiv Maragh was sidelined, will be on Divine Oath for this race with Maragh back on Main Sequence.
“[The McKnight] was just sort of a gut feel that we had that [Divine Oath] would handle a little more ground,” Pletcher said. “I believe he was the only 3-year-old in the race so we thought it was a pretty impressive effort from him and showed that he can handle the three-turn distance. This is a logical race for him and he’s doing very well. We know it’s going to be a challenge with the Breeders’ Cup Turf winner in there.”
The Mac Diarmida is scheduled to go off as the ninth race on Saturday, one of seven graded stakes races headlined by the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes for 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail.
$200,000 Mac Diarmida Stakes
Saturday, Gulfstream Park, Race 9, 4:30 p.m. ET
1 3/8 miles on turf for 4-year-olds and up
PP
Horse
Jockey
Weight
Trainer
1
Main Sequence (KY)
Rajiv Maragh
123
Graham Motion
2
Money Talker (KY)
Rafael Hernandez
117
Sid Attard
3
Artic North (KY)
Paco Lopez
117
Patrick Reynolds
4
Change of Command (MD)
Gabriel Saez
117
Jorge Navarro
5
Shiva Ryan (KY)
Eduardo Nunez
117
Mohamed Jehaludi
6
Twilight Eclipse (KY)
Javier Castellano
121
Tom Albertrani
7
Divine Oath (KY)
John Velazquez
121
Todd Pletcher
8
Marqueteer (FL)
Edgar Prado
117
Anna Varsi