Main Sequence to Defend United Nations Title
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Main Sequence, champion older male and turf male of 2014, will return to Monmouth Park and defend last year's win in the $500,000 United Nations Stakes (gr. IT) July 5, going a 1 3/8 miles on the turf.
"We've been very conservative with him since coming back from Dubai," trainer Graham Motion said of the Flaxman Holdings horse, who last raced to a seventh-place finish in the Dubai Sheema Classic (UAE-I) March 28. "He shipped well and handled it well. I could have breezed him three or four weeks ago, but we're taking our time, and will try and plot the same path we did last year."
The 6-year-old son of Aldebaran worked May 23 at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, his first timed breeze since returning to the U.S., and went four furlongs in :50 3/5 over the synthetic track.
The 2014 Horse of the Year finalist started his path in the U.S. last year at Monmouth, where he scored a neck victory over Twilight Eclipse in the United Nations, starting a four-race grade I win streak, capped by a victory in the Longines Breeders Cup Turf (gr. IT).
Main Sequence began 2015 with a win in the Mac Diarmida (gr. IIT) at Gulfstream Park in February.
"We thought about running him on Belmont Stakes Day, but we're just going to stick with what worked for us last year," Motion said.
The United Nations is one of two grade I races that run at Monmouth, along with the $1 million William Hill Haskell Invitational Aug. 2.