Pathbreaking International Bloodstock Agent Michael Motion Passes Away At 95

[Wandering Eyes]

Renowned international bloodstock agent Michael G. Motion, who was an innovator in his field, passed away peacefully with his family by his side at his home in Middleburg, Virginia Aug. 14, 2025. He was 95.

Although he grew up involved in pony club and foxhunting in England, Motion's interests initially were in cattle and farming. He attended the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester before migrating to Canada where took a job working with pedigreed livestock. The position led him to a two-year stint in South America running a receiving center for imported cattle.

Returning to England in 1956, Motion reconnected with Josephine Wells and the pair became engaged. 'Jo' was the first female to groom a winner of The Grand National at Aintree–Nickel Coin in 1951.

The couple married in October 1956 before heading to America. Motion's knowledge of South America and his Spanish language skills landed him a job with an import-export company. Bored with that desk job, he decided to pursue other employment.

In New York City in 1957, Motion asked a woman in a small bookshop where he might find an auction house. She directed him to Fasig-Tipton which was around the corner. There he interviewed with Humphrey Finney who hired him as a bookkeeper. He became the office's sixth employee.

Motion left Fasig-Tipton after a year, but that brief tenure afforded him valuable experience when it came to the financial side of the Thoroughbred breeding industry.

At 27, he secured a job at Mrs. John Burgwin's Barberry Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was Mrs. Burgwin's keen interest in horses that pushed Motion to create a proposal re-branding Barberry Farm as a viable Thoroughbred entity.

He made his first purchase–two weanling fillies–at the 1958 Keeneland Fall Sale. In what was perhaps one of the first pinhooking ventures, he sold both as yearlings at Saratoga in 1959.

Motion returned to Keeneland a few months later and purchased four in-foal mares, which officially brought Barberry into the Thoroughbred breeding business. Five years later, they were among Saratoga's top three consignors by average.

In 1962, the Motions and their first two children–American-born daughters Claire and Philippa (“Pippa”)–returned to England. The Thoroughbred bloodstock industry was not yet international, so the reputation Motion developed in North America was unknown in England. That all changed when American clients started to come calling.

Motion's understanding of the American buyers and the markets became an asset. The husband and wife team then moved to Herringswell near Newmarket in 1964, developing their own operation as Herringswell Manor Stud. Those same American clients sent horses to them, contributing to its prominence as a boarding facility in England for 15 years.

During the 1970s, Motion expanded his business and solidified his status as a pathbreaker; he was one of the first bloodstock agents with clients in both on both sides of the Atlantic.

His roster included Nelson Bunker Hunt's Blue Grass Farm; Taylor Hardin's Newstead Farm; William Hackman's Orange Hill Farm and Thomas Mellon Evans's Buckland Farm. In Europe, Daniel Wildenstein's Allez France Stable, Robert Sangster and Jean Ternynck.

By the late 70s, Motion extended his base to include Japanese and Australian interests. He became Tattersalls's North American representative in 1976.

Motion's friend Bill Oppenheim said, “Michael Motion was a Transatlantic pioneer as a farm manager and bloodstock agent who early on was active on both sides of The Pond. Among his smaller accomplishments was offering me, a young journalist, a no-obligation opportunity to attend the Tattersalls Yearling Sale in Newmarket in 1980 when he was the Tattersalls representative in America.

“It was truly a life-changing experience for me, and we remained friends and occasional colleagues for decades until his retirement,” he said. “I regard him as one of my most influential mentors. He was a great man.”

Motion is the father of leading trainer Graham Motion as well as Andrew Motion, who owns Old Chapel Farm in Virginia and develops horses for sales. Eldest daughter Claire is an educator in Middleburg, while his other daughter Pippa is involved in gourmet food and the catering business in Washington D.C.

Funeral arrangements for Michael Motion are forthcoming.

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