Main Sequence to use Mac Diarmida as Dubai prep

His most recent work was the first for Main Sequence since his half-length

victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf on November 1. Motion said he plans to give

Main Sequence 10 days to acclimate to his new surroundings before scheduling the

first of five or six works at Palm Meadows prior to his anticipated six-year-old

debut in the Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida on February 21 at Gulfstream Park.

"He's been great," Motion said. "I actually had kind of planned on giving him

a little longer off perhaps, but he was so full of himself and doing so well

that we started him off. He had his first breeze the day before Christmas, so he

basically kind of had a month of not doing very much at all, which was good."

Main Sequence won four of 14 starts in England and was winless

since May 2012 before joining Motion in January. He reeled off four consecutive

Grade 1 wins starting with the United Nations on July 6 at Monmouth Park and

followed by the Sword Dancer at Saratoga in August and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic

Invitational at Belmont Park in September.

"He came to me almost at this same time last year," Motion said. "He got very

sick when he got to quarantine and ended up spending almost a month in

quarantine. He had pneumonia and it wasn't really his fault that he didn't get

going earlier in the year."

Motion is following a similar blueprint with Main Sequence that he used with

Animal Kingdom. The 2011 Kentucky Derby winner ran second in the 2012 Breeders'

Cup Mile and began his 2013 campaign with a runner-up finish in the Gulfstream

Park Turf Handicap before heading overseas to capture the $6 million Dubai World

Cup.

"My plan would be to run him in the Mac Diarmida to prep him to go to Dubai.

That would give him five weeks before the Dubai race," Motion said. "I'm really

pleased with how he's done, knock on wood. He's really on the same schedule that

we did with Animal Kingdom. We've kind of tried to do things the same way."

Main Sequence figures to get plenty of consideration for Horse of the Year,

which will be announced at the 44th Eclipse Awards ceremony being hosted by

Gulfstream Park for the third straight year on January 17.

"It's very flattering that he's included in the conversation," Motion said.

"Honestly, he hasn't put a foot wrong in his campaign. He's four-for-four in

Group 1s, which as we know is very hard to do. I don't think there's another

horse out there that's been able to put that kind of a streak together.

"The knock I hear on him is he didn't start until late in the year, but that

wasn't his fault. I've never had a horse that put four Group 1s together and had

an unblemished record. Even Animal Kingdom wasn't able to do that. It's very

flattering to be considered."

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