CT: Now healthy, Moonlit Notion is rediscovering winning ways
Ted Black- January 30, 2026
Trainer Tim Grams is one of many conditioners who have sidelined horses with various minor ailments and illnesses. But his talented homebred Moonlit Notion is back in form after missing time and losing weight due to an unusual medical condition not often associated with horses.
After winning the first six starts of his career, including the $75,000 Coin Collector Stakes, Moonlit Notion, by Great Notion out of Grams’ homebred multiple stakes winner Moonlit Song, emerged on pace for a memorable sophomore campaign. But in the weeks after taking the Coin Collector, Moonlit Notion developed digestive problems that would cause him to lose around 300 pounds during his lengthy recovery process.
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“One day last spring I checked his stool and noticed it was as hard as a rock,” Grams said. “I didn’t think much about it at first, but it was concerning. A few days later I noticed there was no stool. A few days later, still no stool. So I took him in for an examination and the vets said he was compacted. So from there he went to Morven Park for surgery and straight away he would be out for 90 days.”
After Moonlit Notion underwent surgery and was given a clean bill of health, Grams gradually put him back into training. But the missed time meant he would miss the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics events, which would have been his primary goal had he stayed healthy.
“When he came back, he had lost so much weight and so much muscle, I didn’t want to push him toward the Breeders Classics,” Grams said. “I was just happy to have him back. I mean, he had already won a stakes and he was only three, so there was no point in rushing him back. I thought he finished the year well.”
Moonlit Notion competed and was dropped from the WVBC Dash for Cash, returning to action four days later in an allowance match and finishing third. After repeated third-place finishes, Moonlit Notion finished second twice in two more allowance races across the strip in November, capping off a solid if improvised sophomore campaign with five wins and more than $133,000 collected from nine season efforts.
More importantly for his conditioner, Moonlit Notion was back in top condition and ready for a four-year-old campaign that Grams hopes will fulfill the colt’s early promise. That started on January 10 when he returned to the winner’s circle and won a 4 ½ furlong allowance by three parts of a length under jockey Larry Reynolds as the 3-10 favorite after time.
“He did well leading up to that race, but I was still a little concerned about how we would handle the sloppy track,” Grams said. “Then he just walked into the gate and stood there flat-footed and missed the break. He must have seen them by five lengths. Then he started his rally down the back and at the top of the track I could see he was going to win it.”
Moonlit Notion is the first colt and second foal of the Grams homebred mare Moonlit Song, who won 14 of 26 starts and more than $400,000 and scored in five stakes, highlighted by a victory in the WVBC Cavada. Her first foal, Moonlit Kiss, the older full sister to Moonlit Notion, has won seven of 19 starts and earned more than $180,000, but is still seeking her first stakes victory.
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