In her role as assistant to the Maryland-based trainer, British expat Alice Clapham has been supervising the Coronation Stakes preparation of unbeaten US visitor Spendarella
When British expat Graham Motion decided to send Spendarella to Royal Ascot for the Coronation Stakes, he did so knowing the filly would be in safe hands during the transatlantic trip.
The travelling staff take on the day-to-day supervision of international runners and for this and every overseas mission that is undertaken, Motion’s assistant trainer Alice Clapham is indispensable.
For the period until Motion’s arrival in England, the 52-year-old Clapham acts as the trainer’s eyes and ears, relaying regular bulletins back to base at Fair Hill in Maryland. The news on the undefeated daughter of Karakontie has been all positive ahead of her G1 assignment on Friday.
“Alice has done all my travelling since I first started going on these expeditions so I am very dependent on her and her input,” says Motion. “She’s a hugely integral part of the team and the confidence I have in her is hugely important to me.
“She runs the show and we talk most days when she is away,” the trainer adds. “When she took Animal Kingdom to Dubai she rode him and everything. I am extremely dependent on her for input on how the horse is doing, taking care of the horse, the training schedule, the travelling, really everything. She handles it all.”
Clapham, who has been accompanied on this trip by Jordan Thomson, summarises Spendarella’s readiness as follows, “She has travelled very well,” she says.
“She has done nothing wrong so far. We will take the shot at the Grade 1 and see how it all works out. She has plenty of class and all the jockeys that have ridden her have said she has more in the tank to give.”
Like Motion, Clapham’s roots are in England. Motion is originally from Cambridge and Clapham from Hampshire, where she followed older sister Diana ‘Tiny’ Clapham into eventing, competing up to Burghley and Badminton standard.
“It is a coincidence she is English,” says Motion, “but it’s also part of the reason we get on so well and have such a good relationship.”
Diana Clapham represented Britain at the Olympics, collecting a team silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles games.
Alice, whose Royal Ascot visit has coincided with her sister’s 65th birthday, also headed across the Atlantic where she worked for five-time Olympic eventer Karen O’Connor and husband David, who won individual gold in the 2000 Summer games.
“While I was there I got into steeeplechasing and went to work for Richard Valentine in Virginia and after that I wanted to get over to Flat racing so I started working for Graham,” she says.
“I was galloping mainly to start with but stopped that late last year. Working as an assistant for Graham, I get to do a bit of everything, but I hit 52 and decided, ‘That’s it for the galloping!’
For Motion, Clapham travelled with the 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom to Dubai, where he won the Dubai World Cup in 2013, and then onto England for Royal Ascot.
She also accompanied Miss Temple City and Sharing, who secured the stable’s best result from five runners in England when finishing second in the 2020 Coronation Stakes. “Graham is a great person to work for and I g
et to travel all over the world so how can you complain about that,” she says.
Sharing was a Breeders’ Cup winner while all Spendarella’s runs have come this year, including two Group victories, the latest in the G2 Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland in April
“Spendarella did not run as a two-year-old because she wasn’t quite ready,” explains Clapham. “She broke her maiden in January and then we ran her back in a stakes race at Gulfstream before winning again at Keeneland.
“When they decided to bring her here, Graham wanted to freshen her up rather than running once more because she had run three pretty consistent races,” she goes on. “She has ended up racing prominently because she breaks well but I think she is pretty versatile.
“Sharing was a little more accomplished than this filly coming here – she had won at the Breeders’ Cup and had more experience, but this filly has done nothing wrong and has a great temperament for shipping.”
Motion was very happy with what he saw when arriving in England and believes Spendarella has a big shot at winning the Coronation. “You always wonder when you get over that you’ve done enough with them,” he says.
“You can’t make up for lost time once you get here; it’s a matter of keeping her ticking over and keeping her happy but we feel Spendarella really belongs. She is training well and this has been her target for a while. Alice seems very happy with her and that gives me confidence to think we are in a good spot.”
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