Trainer Bios

H. Graham Motion

Born: May 22, 1964, in Cambridge, England

Record at Keeneland

Total Wins: 166

Stakes Wins: 39

Career Firsts

First Grade 1 Win: 2003 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland with Film Maker

First Stakes Win: 1993 Chase Me at Laurel with Gala Spinaway

First Graded Stakes Win: 1993 Polynesian (G3) at Laurel with Gala Spinaway

First Career Win: Feb. 19, 1993, at Laurel with Bounding Daisy

Starters in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes

Year	Horse	Finish
2012	Howe Great	5th
2011	Crimson China	5th

At Keeneland

Fifth-leading trainer by stakes wins with 39 behind Todd Pletcher (70), Bill Mott (52), D. Wayne Lukas (51) and Chad Brown (50).

Co-leading trainer (with Todd Pletcher) during the 2014 Fall Meet.

First Keeneland win came during the 1997 Fall Meet.

First Keeneland stakes win was the 1999 Bewitch (G3) with Bursting Forth.

Trained Animal Kingdom at Keeneland in April 2011 before the colt won the Kentucky Derby (G1).

Sent out Miss Temple City to defeat males in the 2016 Maker's 46 Mile (G1) and Shadwell Turf Mile (G1).

Won additional Grade 1 stakes with Film Maker (2003 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, Aruna (2011 Juddmonte Spinster), Dancing Rags (2016 Darley Alcibiades).

Latest stakes win came during the 2023 Fall Meet with Romagna Mia (GB) in the Rood & Riddle Dowager.

Career

Triple Crown win: 2011 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom.

Breeders’ Cup wins (4): 2004 Turf with Better Talk Now; 2010 Filly and Mare Turf with 46-1 longshot Shared Account; 2014 Turf with Main Sequence and 2019 Juvenile Fillies Turf with Shared Account's daughter Sharing.

North American career earnings exceed $157 million with 2,774 wins through Dec. 17, 2024.

Click here for his Equibase career record.

Background

Raised in the village of Herringswell, Newmarket, Graham is the son of Michael Motion, an internationally recognized representative for Tattersalls and bloodstock agent. His mother, Jo, was an amateur jockey in England and worked as an assistant trainer in England and the U.S. Graham worked for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard from 1985 to 1990 while Sheppard raced three-time Eclipse Award-winning steeplechaser Flatterer and Grade 1 winner Storm Cat. He worked for trainer Jonathan Pease in France for a brief period and met his future wife, Anita, who was working for trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre.

Graham returned to the U.S. in 1990 and began working for trainer Bernie Bond. He took over his stable when Bond retired and died in 1993. Graham is based at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.