Motion Sends Queen Blossom West for American Oaks

Graham Motion, who has made a habit of swooping in to win graded grass races in Southern California, will look to add another to the list on the final day of 2016 in the $300,000 American Oaks (gr. IT).

Team Valor International and Gary Barber's Queen Blossom is one of two East Coast invaders for Motion Dec. 31 at Santa Anita Park—Arles is also entered in the Robert J. Frankel Stakes (gr. IIIT)—and the Jeremy filly is scheduled to make her first U.S. start in the 1 1/4-mile American Oaks.

Under the care of trainer P.J. Prendergast, Queen Blossom won the Lodge Park Stud E.B.F. Park Express Stakes (Ire-III) to start her 2016 campaign in March, but finished a well-beaten fifth (by 14 1/2 lengths) and sixth (42 1/2 lengths) in two subsequent stakes starts in Ireland before moving to Motion's barn at Fair Hill Training Center.

Motion had a standout run on the Del Mar grass during the seaside racetrack's fall meet, with three graded wins.

Miss Temple City scored in the Matriarch (gr. IT) by a nose, Ring Weekend took the Seabiscuit Handicap (gr. IIT), and Journey Home won the Jimmy Durante (gr. IIIT). He just missed a fourth when Arles came up a nose short behind Nuovo Record in the Red Carpet Handicap (gr. IIIT).

Four local graded stakes winners are also in the field of 13, headed by Jungle Racing, KMN Racing, and LNJ Foxwoods' Stays in Vegas, who set the pace in the Matriarch and dug in late to finish a game third, only a head behind Miss Temple City. The daughter of City Zip   has two wins in three starts on the Santa Anita grass, including her last victory in the May 7 Senorita Stakes (gr. IIIT). The Jerry Hollendorfer-trained filly's only loss on the Santa Anita turf was another close third, also by a head, to fellow American Oaks entrant Cheekaboo in the June 19 Honeymoon Stakes (gr. IIT).

Since the Honeymoon, however, Cheekaboo has yet to find the winner's circle. A deep closer, the California-bred Unusual Heat filly trained by Peter Eurton hasn't seriously threatened in four stakes starts since.

Big Chief Racing, Head of Plains Partners, and Gene Voss' Decked Out will also look to snap a winless streak following her graded score April 9 in the Providencia Stakes (gr. IIIT). The Street Boss   filly trained by Keith Desormeaux hasn't been far off, however, with a head second to Harmonize in the Del Mar Oaks (gr. IT) and a fourth-place finish in the Honeymoon, where she was only a half-length behind Cheekaboo.

J K Racing Stable's Mokat is the final graded winner in the field and is coming into the American Oaks off a two-and-a-half month layoff for trainer Richard Baltas. The Uncle Mo   filly lacked a late kick in her last start to finish fifth in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes Presented by Lane's End (gr. IT) at Keeneland, but was only three-quarters of a length back in the Del Mar Oaks and flashed brilliance in her lone graded win, the July 23 San Clemente Handicap (gr. IIT).