FRANKLIN, Ky. - This past Saturday trainer Graham Motion, a native of England, won the Da Hoss Stakes in Virginia with Isivunguvungu, a horse bred and campaigned in South Africa, now potentially bound for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint this November in California. On Wednesday, Motion will run The Grey Wizard, a 5-year-old bred in Ireland, in the inaugural Nashville Gold Cup at Kentucky Downs. The Grey Wizard has become North America’s top turf marathoner, and if he continues progressing, he could wind up in Australia this fall. It’s a global affair, the Motion string at the Fair Hill Training Center, where The Grey Wizard has done nearly all his work since arriving in America after making his first two starts in Ireland. The Grey Wizard has not gotten in a timed work since his most recent race, the Cape Henlopen Stakes on Aug. 21 at Delaware Park, but that’s standard practice for Motion. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Usually far off the pace, there was so little of it in the Cape Henlopen that The Grey Wizard raced only a couple lengths from the lead with more than a half-mile remaining. He won easily, by 2 1/2 lengths, a strong sign that this 5-year-old gelding continues to find himself and has not yet peaked. “Even though he was gelded, the last two years he wasn’t really all that focused on what he was doing,” said jockey John Velazquez, who has ridden The Grey Wizard in nine of his 14 American starts and will do so again Wednesday. “He’s changed. He’s better.” At 1 1/2 miles, the Cape Henlopen qualifies as a long race by American flat standards, but that distance just gets The Grey Wizard warmed up. The Nashville Gold Cup, at 2 1/16 miles, is more his style. A massive beast by Caravaggio, The Grey Wizard needs time to unwind his stride, but once he does, he can roll. Winning the two-mile Belmont Gold Cup at Saratoga, The Grey Wizard ran his last half-mile in a swift 46.70. The Belmont Gold Cup is one of several races offering the winner a berth in one of the world’s most famous two-milers, the Melbourne Cup. Motion last week said that owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and the Estate of Albert Frasseto are seriously considering sending the horse for that Nov. 5 contest. But first, The Nashville Gold Cup, which offers a base purse of $250,000, double that for Kentucky-breds. The Grey Wizard made his debut at Navan in Ireland, so he does have a distant familiarity with a European-style course, and he no doubt is the race’s most likely winner. Limited Liability was one of two horses The Grey Wizard gunned down just before the finish of the Belmont Gold Cup, but The Grey Wizard more definitively defeated him in the Cape Henlopen, and the course here should play to The Grey Wizard’s strengths. Familiar Dreams ships from Ireland with unusual form, most of her starts having come in so-called “bumpers,” restricted races on the flat run during National Hunt jump-race meetings. She’s probably not good enough, and McLovin probably poses the biggest threat to The Grey Wizard. He should get first run on The Grey Wizard, has a win and a second in his two-mile races, and won a Kentucky Downs allowance two seasons ago. More likely, there’s no magical act on Wednesday, and The Grey Wizard wins his third race in a row. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.